Important Terms
Active surveillance involves collecting the data yourself in your respective community about the thing you are interested in.
What are some things we can detect with surveillance?
outbreaks and epidemics
What are interviews?
Collecting the information you need from identified individuals related to your disease of interest.
What is case-finding?
Acquiring the names of people potentially at-risk or exposed to a disease being investigated.
What are some sources of data?
clinics, labs, health departments, public, media, etc.
What is passive surveillance?
You obtain data from already established sources. For example, you collected the data from a hospital's records.
How can surveillance data be used to document diseases?
We can see trends in data, allowing us to see the distribution of health events.
How can interviews be conducted? (i.e. what format)
In-person or on the phone
Are people always willing to share private information with disease investigators?
Absolutely not. This is intimate information and people are not always willing to share this.
Why are some of these data sources so important?
Because they are mandated reporters and can shed light on important populations.
What does HIPAA stand for? And what does it do?
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. (protects public health activities, protects patient privacy, etc.
Why is it important to be timely with surveillance data?
If we fail to catch outbreaks/epidemics early enough, they spread. This puts more people at risk which can lead to morbidity and mortality, for instance.
What is collected during an interview?
Demographics, history, occupation, lifestyle, travel history, who they have had contact with, etc.
Do we have to maintain confidentiality when interviewing cases?
Yes. It's required by law.
What is timely dissemination and why is it important?
It is the sharing of information with other individuals who need to be aware of the info you found. It is also important to do it in a timely manner so we can act early.
What is included in reports?
(basic info, any disease info, lab info, etc.)
Can we use surveillance data to identify at-risk populations?
Yes
What do we want to obtain from an interviewee's symptom history?
Onset and duration
What are some tactics used in case finding?
open-ended questions, listening to patient, non-judgemental, re-interview, follow-up
Why is prevalence and incidence important for dissemination?
incidence id's risk and prevalence id's current cases. Both are needed to showcase accurate data.
How is the data on reports deidentified?
All identifiable traits about a patient are removed. Like their name, address, etc. Their age, gender and race/ethnicity can remain.
How is surveillance related to control and prevention measures?
We can use the data to evaluate control and prevention methods, based on what the data tells us.
Why is it important for us to identify who someone has been in contact with during their interview?
To conduct contact tracing to find at-risk indivdiuals.
Why is it important to ask non-judgemental questions?
To avoid leading individuals to certain answers. It also allows them more freedom to answer.
what would be a scenario where you would expect to see dissemination of surveillance data?
i.e. a school (mandated reporter) disclosing information about cases of chicken pox to their local health department.