Biosurveillance Systems Evaluation: Johns Hopkins Team Findings

The presentation describes the survey conducted at the two local health departments. The objective of the survey was to understand the context and environment where biosurveillance has been deployed and how those communities have used these systems. Targeted focus groups and/or key informant interviews with stakeholders have been conducted to understand the role of biosurveillance in: response steps for a recent public health emergency; high-workload outbreaks; recent seasonal influenza surveillance activities. Primary focus was on how biosurveillance promotes: 1) early event detection, 2) situational awareness and/or 3) countermeasure response in these communities. Survey participants agreed that syndromic surveillance systems have limited value in detecting small outbreak. Value increases by blending with traditional public health surveillance and combining biosurveillance data with various other data sources. Access to biosurveillance data by other programs enhanced the overall public health utility. Additional value is derived from building relationships with data providers, other data stream stakeholders and teamwork within the biosurveillance system.