Week 5 - IT Needs of Disease Surveillance - Discussion Response



Week 5: IT Needs of Disease Surveillance - Discussion Response

Discussion Response to Nathaniel Greyer

Nathaniel Geyer discusses the epidemiological query and mapping system (EpiQMS) implemented at the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PADOH, 2013). This is inherently a web based system which essentially provides access to population level data, surveillance health outcomes, exploratory, and geographical information systems (GIS) analyses (Hoskins et al., 2002). ). It also provides the end user the ability to output tables, graphs and maps for data collected for the last 20 years (Hoskins et al, 2002).

Nathaniel points out some of the problem inherent in the web based system. These problems are hindering the functionality of the system. For instance, PADOH is authorized to attend reports of new STD related cases in Pennsylvania. However, EpiQMS data is insufficient for some diseases including HIV and AIDS registry and mental health patient data etc. Furthermore, data import into the EpiQMS is time consuming, as it takes two years for backlogged data to get processed into the system. Thus, some of the concerns of using web-based application are data import, flexibility, time issues and security (Lombardo & Burkeridge, 2007). However, Nathaniel is quick to revert to the many benefits of the system in place. These benefits can be best reaped by policymakers that ought to make public health decisions, by using critical insights from outputs produced by the EpiQMS system.

I would like to extend Nathaniel's argument by stating some of the other benefits of the web based system. This interactive health statistics web tool helps in creating customized county assessments and profiles for many different health related issues based on various system generated maps, charts and data tables. These profiles includes statistics of teen pregnancy, STD's, population measures, child mortality, rendered emergency medical services, communicable diseases, cancer, birth rates, other behavioral risks and death related statistics (PAC3, 2013).

Discussion Response to Martin Logo

Martin Logo in his discussion focuses on the performance of Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Mr. Logo iterates the vision of the department to commit to programs that target the leading causes of death and disability in the population. Thus, its major functionality is to monitor and control diseases and epidemics in the country. CDC augments numerous electronic surveillance systems to attain its primary objectives. These systems collects, manages, interprets and disseminates critical information necessary for disease monitoring ...