The Public health value of emergency department syndromic surveillance following a natural disaster

Authors

  • Kirsty Hope Hunter New England Population Health, Wallsend, New South Wales; Newcastle Institute of Public Health, Newcastle, New South Wales
  • Tony Merritt Hunter New England Population Health, Wallsend, New South Wales
  • Keith Eastwood Hunter New England Population Health, Wallsend, New South Wales
  • Kelly Main Hunter New England Population Health, Wallsend, New South Wales
  • David N Durrheim Hunter New England Population Health, Wallsend, New South Wales; Newcastle Institute of Public Health, Newcastle, New South Wales
  • David Muscatello New South Wales Health Department
  • Kerry Todd Hunter New England Population Health, Wallsend, New South Wales
  • Wei Zheng New South Wales Health Department

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2008.32.13

Keywords:

syndromic surveillance, natural disaster, disease surveillance, emergency department

Abstract

During a recent natural disaster public health staff required timely and comprehensive surveillance of priority health conditions, including injury, mental health disorders and selected infectious diseases, to inform response and recovery activities. Although traditional surveillance is of value in such settings it is constrained by a focus on notifiable conditions and delays in reporting. The application of an electronic emergency department syndromic surveillance system proved valuable and timely in informing public health activities following a natural disaster in New South Wales. Commun Dis Intell 2008;32:92–94.

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References

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology. Newcastle, New South Wales June 2007 daily weather observations. Available from: www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/200706/html/IDCJDW2097.200706.shtml. Accessed August 2007.

Guy Carpenter and Company Ltd. Australian East Coast Storm 2007: Impact of east coast lows. Available from http://gcportal.guycarp.com/portal/extranet/popup/insights/reportsPDF/2007/Australian%20East%20Coast%20Storm%20Report%202007.pdf?vid=4 Accessed 3 January 2008.

Watson J, Gayer M, Connolly M. Epidemics after Natural Disasters. EID 2007;13:1-5.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After a Hurricane: Key facts about infectious disease. Available from: www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/hurricanes/infectiousdisease.asp Accessed August 2007.

Muscatello D, Churches T, Kaldor J, Zheng W, Chiu C, Correll P, et al. An automated, broad-based, near real-time public health surveillance system using presentations to hospital Emergency Departments in New South Wales, Australia. BMC Pub Hlth 2005;5:141-152.

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Published

01/03/08

How to Cite

Hope, Kirsty, Tony Merritt, Keith Eastwood, Kelly Main, David N Durrheim, David Muscatello, Kerry Todd, and Wei Zheng. 2008. “The Public Health Value of Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance Following a Natural Disaster”. Communicable Diseases Intelligence 32 (March):92-94. https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2008.32.13.

Issue

Vol. 32 (2008)

Section

Short report

Categories

License

Copyright (c) 2008 Communicable Diseases Intelligence

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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