2014.ISDS.Abstracts.Final.pdf


ISDS Annual Conference Proceedings 2014. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-
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ISDS 2014 Conference Abstracts

How Should We Be Conducting Routine Analysis 
of Traditional Emergency Department Syndromic 
Surveillance Data?

David Atrubin*2 and Michael Wiese1

1FL DOH - Hillsborough Cnty, Tampa, FL, USA; 2Florida Department of Health, Tampa, FL, USA

Objective
To discuss how various emergency department based syndromic 

surveillance systems from across the country and world are being 
used and to develop best practices for moving forward

Introduction
Along with commensurate funding, an increased emphasis on 

syndromic surveillance systems occurred post September 11, 2001 
and the subsequent anthrax attacks. Since then, many syndromic 
surveillance systems have evolved and have ever-increasing 
functionality and visualization tools. As outbreak detection 
using these systems has demonstrated an equivocal track record, 
epidemiologists have sought out other interesting and unique uses for 
these systems. Over the numerous years of the International Society 
for Disease Surveillance (ISDS) conference, many of these studies 
have been presented, however, there has been a dearth of discussion 
related to how these systems should be used on a routine basis. As the 
initial goal of these systems was to provide a near real-time disease 
surveillance tool, the question of how to most effectively conduct this 
type of routine surveillance is paramount.

Description
This roundtable will provide a forum for national, state, and local 

users of syndromic surveillance systems to discuss how they use 
these systems routinely. With the increasing number of participating 
hospitals (due in large part to increased incentives from Meaningful 
Use), this question has taken on added significance. An important part 
of this discussion will focus on the value that syndromic surveillance 
can provide that other surveillance systems cannot address.

Audience Engagement
This roundtable is well suited to audience participation as the 

discussion will revolve around how different jurisdictions are 
utilizing their syndromic surveillance data. Roundtable participants 
will be asked about their routine surveillance methods, including the 
frequency of data analysis and the type of reports that are produced. 
Participants will also be encouraged to share their opinions as to uses 
and misuses of syndromic surveillance data sets.

Sample Questions:
-How does your jurisdiction conduct syndromic surveillance each 

day/periodically?
-Does syndromic surveillance need to be conducted locally or is it 

possible to do it effectively at the state of national level?
-When conducting an epidemiologic analysis, how should decisions 

be made regarding using a syndromic surveillance data set versus a 
hospital discharge data set?

Keywords
emergency department data; routine analysis; Local public health; 
disease surveillance; Outbreak detection

*David Atrubin

E-mail: david.atrubin@flhealth.gov    

Online Journal of Public Health Informatics * ISSN 1947-2579 * http://ojphi.org * (1):e183, 201