Enhanced Informatics Response through Collaboration of Public Health Nurses and Epidemiologists

Real-time and accurate epidemiologic data is becoming evermore critical to the delivery of appropriate public health services during emergency events such as disease outbreaks or disasters. With the current national focus on electronic health data exchange, new venues exist for the use of information technology to accomplish a variety of goals, including reduction of data entry time and error, implementation of early event detection, and enhancement of community public health emergency preparedness and response. 

 CDC, in partnership with the Association of State and Territorial Directors of Nursing (ASTDN), introduced a mobile GIS field data collections system integrating handheld computers, Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, and CDC’s Natural Disaster Morbidity Report Form in three states. The purpose of this effort was to integrate and evaluate an informatics technology solution to enhance emergency response health assessment, surveillance, and disease outbreak detection through the collaboration of public health nurses and epidemiologists. 

 This project involved training public health officials to use GIS/GPS technology.  A simulated exercise was conducted to assess the applicability of this model for disaster response.  Furthermore, this project will expand the use of this mobile technology and explore the feasibility of using mobile GIS/GPS handheld computer on a daily basis to facilitate surveillance and tracking for event and outbreak detection.  Preliminary results from this project are expected by May 2008.  Evaluation measures will include timeliness, validity, data quality, system usefulness, flexibility, acceptability, portability, stability and cost.  

 Implementation of this mobile GIS/GPS handheld computer electronics technology expands collaboration of public health nurses and epidemiologists within states, between states, and with CDC; and enhances the capacity of public health nurses and epidemiologists to meet the needs of state and local programs and achieve CDC health protection and preparedness goals.