Building State and Local Public Health Capacity in Syndromic Surveillance Through an Online Community of Practice

Gould, Deborah; Lamb, Emilie; Dearth, Shandy; Collier, Krystal

doi:10.1177/0033354919828713

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Continuation or new informatics training or additions to existing public health degree programs may be useful policy approaches to strengthen the public health informatics infrastructure. Alternatives are innovative approaches using online forums and building communities of practice, as these have been shown to be low‐cost, high‐value approaches to facilitating learning and improving technical skills 62 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Opportunities to Strengthen the Public Health Informatics Infrastructure: Exploring Hospitals’ Challenges with Data Exchange

et al. 2021

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Even though most hospitals have the technological ability to exchange data with public health agencies, the majority continue to experience challenges. Most challenges are attributable to the general resources of public health agencies, although workforce limitations, technology issues such as a lack of data standards, and policy uncertainty around reporting requirements also remain prominent issues. Ongoing funding to support the adoption of technology and strengthen the development of the health informatics workforce, combined with revising the promotion of the interoperability scoring approach, will likely help improve the exchange of electronic data between hospitals and public health agencies. Context The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has highlighted significant barriers in the exchange of essential information between hospitals and local public health agencies. Thus it remains important to clarify the specific issues that hospitals may face in reporting to public health agencies to inform focused approaches to improve the information exchange for the current pandemic as well as ongoing public health activities and population health management. Methods This study uses cross‐sectional data of acute‐care, nonfederal hospitals from the 2017 American Hospital Association Annual Survey and Information Technology supplement. Guided by the technology‐organization‐environment framework, we coded the responses to a question regarding the challenges that hospitals face in submitting data to public health agencies by using content analysis according to the type of challenge (i.e., technology, organization, or environment), responsible entity (i.e., hospital, public health agency, vendor, multiple), and the specific issue described. We used multivariable logistic and multinomial regression to identify characteristics of hospitals associated with experiencing the types of challenges. Findings Our findings show that of the 2,794 hospitals in our analysis, 1,696 (61%) reported experiencing at least one challenge in reporting health data to a public health agency. Organizational issues were the most frequently reported type of challenge, noted by 1,455 hospitals. The most common specific issue, reported by 1,117 hospitals, was the general resources of public health agencies. An advanced EHR system and participation in a health information exchange both decreased the likelihood of not reporting experiencing a challenge and increased the likelihood of reporting an organizational challenge. Conclusions Our findings inform policy recommendations such as improving data standards, increasing funding for public health agencies to improve their technological capabilities, offering workforce training programs, and increasing clarity of policy specifications and reporting. These approaches can improve the exchange of information between hospitals and public health agencies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Opportunities to Strengthen the Public Health Informatics Infrastructure: Exploring Hospitals’ Challenges with Data Exchange

et al. 2021

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“…Outcomes of interest included ED visits for asthma, air-quality-related respiratory illness, and all causes. Syndrome definitions for asthma and air-quality-related respiratory illness were developed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Syndromic Surveillance Program Community of Practice in collaboration with Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists [20,21]. The syndrome definition for asthma ('CDC Asthma Chief Complaint/Discharge Diagnosis (CCDD) v1') included chief complaint terms and diagnosis codes related to asthma, such as 'asthma' , 'airway disease' , 'bronchospasm' , ICD-10-CM codes in J45, and common mistypings of asthma, while excluding visits with the phrase 'not asthma' (full syndrome definition available upon request).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using syndromic surveillance to rapidly assess the impact of a June 2023 wildfire smoke event on respiratory-related emergency department visits, Massachusetts, United States

Fitzsimmons,

Mahin,

Parikh

et al. 2024

Environ. Res.: Health

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A statewide air quality advisory was issued in Massachusetts for June 6–7, 2023 due to smoke originating from wildfires in Canada. Of particular concern was fine particulate matter, which has an aerodynamic diameter of ≤2.5μm (PM2.5) and has been linked to adverse respiratory outcomes. The objective of this study was to rapidly assess the impact of this wildfire smoke event on respiratory-related emergency department (ED) visits among Massachusetts residents. For exposure, daily air quality index (AQI) data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were used. Massachusetts counties, where for each day from June 6–8, 2023, the daily AQI was ≥101 (i.e., unhealthy air quality), were considered exposed. For each exposed period, two unexposed reference periods where AQI<101 (i.e., good or moderate air quality) were identified within the two weeks prior to the exposed period, with the same days of the week and in the same county. Data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s syndromic surveillance system were used to examine daily counts of ED visits for asthma, air-quality-related respiratory illness, and all causes by county of residence, age group, race, and Hispanic/Latino ethnicity. For each outcome, the numbers of ED visits were compared between the exposed and reference periods. Overall, there were no large increases in ED visits for any conditions examined during this wildfire smoke event. However, residents who were aged 18-64 years, Hispanic/Latino or White experienced small but not statistically significant increases in asthma-related ED visits. These potential differences in the effect on asthma-related ED visits by age and race/ethnicity may be relevant for analyses of future events. This study provides an example of how real-time, publicly available exposure data can be used in conjunction with outcome data from syndromic surveillance to rapidly examine the impact of wildfires and other acute environmental events on health.

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“…The virtual environment permits virtual communities of shared priorities, goals and ideas with the potential to traverse geographical, political and psychological boundaries (Jiminez-Zarco, et al, 2014). The interactions that take place virtually in a VCoP enable members to advance their knowledge, grounded in shared investments in a topic, set of problems or concerns (Gould, et al, 2019). The overarching goal is to promote community-driven leadership, member participation, collaboration, networks, problem solving and knowledge sharing to build capacity, that is, activities, resources and infrastructure to bolster individual and collective capabilities (Gould, et al, 2019).…”

Section: Virtual Communities Of Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The interactions that take place virtually in a VCoP enable members to advance their knowledge, grounded in shared investments in a topic, set of problems or concerns (Gould, et al, 2019). The overarching goal is to promote community-driven leadership, member participation, collaboration, networks, problem solving and knowledge sharing to build capacity, that is, activities, resources and infrastructure to bolster individual and collective capabilities (Gould, et al, 2019). There are clear parallels to the mechanisms, purpose and functioning of VCoP and smart cities, with the caveat that VCoP as voluntary associations, place learning and knowledge building at the heart of the shared enterprise.…”

Section: Virtual Communities Of Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Smart Future of Participation

Bricout

Baker

Moon

et al. 2021

International Journal of E-Planning Research

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COVID-19 is having an enormous impact on civic life, including public services, governance, and the well-being of citizens. The pace and scope of technology as a force for problem solving, connecting people, sharing information, and organizing civic life has increased in the wake of COVID-19. This article critically reviews how technology use influences the civic engagement potential of the smart city, in particular for people with disabilities. The article aims to articulate new challenges to virtual participation in civic life in terms of accessibility, usability, and equity. Next, the article proposes a framework for a smart participation future involving smarter communities that utilize universal design, blended bottom-up, and virtual community of practice (VCoP) approaches to planning and connecting citizens with disabilities to smart cities. Policy and ethical implications of the proposed smart participation future are considered.

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Building State and Local Public Health Capacity in Syndromic Surveillance Through an Online Community of Practice

Cited by 3 publications

References 15 publications

Identifying Opportunities to Strengthen the Public Health Informatics Infrastructure: Exploring Hospitals’ Challenges with Data Exchange

Identifying Opportunities to Strengthen the Public Health Informatics Infrastructure: Exploring Hospitals’ Challenges with Data Exchange

Using syndromic surveillance to rapidly assess the impact of a June 2023 wildfire smoke event on respiratory-related emergency department visits, Massachusetts, United States

Exploring the Smart Future of Participation

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