Developing a Guidance Document to Improve Public Health Surveillance during Disasters

BACKGROUND:   During all phases of the disaster management cycle, public health (PH) surveillance plays a valuable role. Surveillance provides PH officials and stakeholders the information they need to respond to disasters and take action in an appropriate and timely manner. Despite the fact that surveillance provides a valuable function in disasters, a study by the Disaster Epidemiology Subcommittee of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) in 2013 found that there are still significant differences across states in their use of disaster surveillance. Further, there is no standardized guidance on implementing or modifying surveillance for a domestic disaster. The draft disaster surveillance guidance document seeks to fill this gap, providing guidance on planning, initiating, conducting, and evaluating disaster PH surveillance in the US.

METHODS:   We developed a draft disaster surveillance guidance document based on general PH surveillance best practices as well as recommendations for epidemiologic activity from disaster response handbooks, field manuals, and other government and non-governmental organization publications.  We are seeking input from stakeholders, including CSTE. During this presentation we will present the concept of our draft disaster surveillance guidance document. We will give a brief overview on the following document sections: 1) introduction and purpose of disaster surveillance, 2) disaster surveillance systems and practices for implementing them, 3) analysis and dissemination of data, and 4) evaluating the effectiveness of disaster surveillance systems. We will also discuss useful resources such as standardized data collection resources.

RESULTS:   We will gather feedback to better understand tools and resources necessary to increase disaster surveillance capacity and action. This valuable input from our stakeholders will strengthen our document and ensure we meet the needs of our state and local health departments. We also hope to increase awareness of and improve surveillance tools to aid in planning and implementing disaster surveillance.

CONCLUSIONS: As disasters continue to occur with increasing magnitude and frequency, the use of this disaster surveillance guidance document will help state and local health departments plan for and implement PH disaster surveillance. Additionally, the use of standardized data collection forms and case definitions will aid in providing data useful beyond the response phase of a disaster for comparison and further study in the future.