Syndromic Surveillance

 

What is Syndromic Surveillance?

Syndromic surveillance refers to the systematic collection, grouping, and tracking of reason for visit-type data. Syndromic surveillance is not tied to reportable conditions or laboratory results, but rather is a set of information shared for all patient visits. (Or all visits of a certain type, such as all emergency department and urgent care visits.) Health care visit information is de-identified and grouped into “syndromes.” Syndromes are categories of visits that may be similar. Commonly used syndromes include: respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurologic, rash, sepsis, injury, animal bites, and severe illness/death. A typical syndromic surveillance system will alert the user when there are more visits of a particular syndrome than expected, based on past visits. NDDoH then follows up on any identified data anomaly to see if there might be a reason for unexpected increase.

Contact

If you have questions abpit the NDDoH Syndromic Surveillance Program, please contact Levi Schlosser, Syndromic Surveillance Coordinator for the North Dakota Department of Health at lschlosser@nd.gov or call 701.328.2378. For questions about Meaningful Use, or establishing a syndromic surveillance feed with the NDDoH, please visit our Meaningful Use Page.