Traditional and Syndromic Surveillance



Traditional and Syndromic Surveillance

Introduction

Surveillance refers to observation of a matter. In a clinical setting, there are two kinds of surveillance methods that have gained popularity, traditional surveillance and syndromic surveillance. Traditional surveillance is an old method while the syndromic surveillance is the new method that has gained a lot of popularity lately. There is a great difference in the methods of identification, collection, analyzing and validation of data between the two surveillance studies. This paper gives a descriptive study and comparative analysis of the methods used in syndromic and traditional surveillance.

Discussion

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the term, 'syndromic surveillance', applies to surveillance using health-related data that precede diagnosis and signal a sufficient probability of a case or an outbreak to warrant further public health response. Syndromic surveillance implies systems depending on breakthrough of single and populace health pointers that are perceptible before affirmed conclusions are made. Specifically, preceding the lab affirmation of an irresistible sickness, sick persons might display behavioral examples, side effects, signs, or research facility discoveries that could be followed through a mixture of information sources (Yan, Chen, & Zeng, 2008). The syndromic surveillance systems are being adopted locally, as well as, nationally. The method is being used extensively to find out the disease outbreaks increasing currently and the outbreaks which might increase in the future. It also evaluates the size and extent of the outbreak, the type of population it might target and monitor the trends of the disease. The system uses the already existing data from the health care departments wand provides with immediate analysis. However, the access to the patient's disease information is not given to everyone, but only to the allowed bodies also known as covered bodies (Stephen, Thicker, 2003).

The information that is needed in the syndromic surveillance includes ...