Online Program

282579
An emergency medical services surveillance system: The daily situational awareness tool (DSAT)


Monday, November 4, 2013 : 1:30 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.

Alicia Sampson, MPH, CPH, Health & Human Services Agency, Public Health Services, County of San Diego, San Diego, CA
Isabel Corcos, PhD, MPH, Emergency Medical Services, Community Health Statistics Unit, County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, San Diego, CA
Brit Colanter, MPH, Health and Human Services Agency, Public Health Services, County of San Diego, San Diego, CA
Ryan Smith, MPH, Emergency Medical Services, Community Health Statistics Unit, County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, San Diego, CA
Joshua Smith, PhD, MPH, Emergency Medical Services, County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, San Diego, CA
Barbara M. Stepanski, MPH, Emergency Medical Services, County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, San Diego, CA
Leslie Ray, MPH, MPPA, MA, Emergency Medical Services, Community Health Statistics Unit, County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, San Diego, CA
Intro: Public health efforts to prepare for and prevent disasters have grown in significance in recent years. As part of public health disaster and emergency preparedness efforts in San Diego County, we developed a daily situational awareness tool (DSAT) that provides a daily snapshot of public health, local hazards, and demand on the emergency medical services system to better prepare for and predict health emergencies.

Methods: Syndromic surveillance, prehospital system stress surveillance, air quality, weather, and heat surveillance databases are combined in one location to provide an overview of the health, available resources, and possible hazards. The DSAT shows the status and the alert level for each of the public health indicators and each has its own summary report detailing current conditions. Together, the current status of these indicators is reported and relayed to the Public Health Officer and the emergency preparedness team daily.

Results: The DSAT provides a current, up-to-date summary of the health and possible threats to the County of San Diego. This information has been used to prepare for and respond to local public health threats, including heat emergencies and influenza epidemics. The use of this tool has expedited our response time to emergencies, protecting the health and livelihood of residents.

Conclusions: Emergency and disaster preparedness are a crucial function of local public health departments. The use of a daily situational awareness tool can help in the anticipation of an emergency and provide local officials with the necessary data to quickly and adequately respond.

Learning Areas:

Communication and informatics
Other professions or practice related to public health
Protection of the public in relation to communicable diseases including prevention or control

Learning Objectives:
Describe a daily surveillance tool critical to emergency preparedness and disaster planning. Design a daily surveillance system that integrates information from multiple public health providers into a cohesive view of the public health system status for emergency preparedness and disaster planning. Identify key indicators of local daily hazards and demand on the emergency medical services system.

Keyword(s): Disasters, Emergency

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an epidemiologist with the County of San Diego and have been the principle or co-principle of several disaster preparedness projects as well as co-principle of multiple surveillance and epidemiological analyses related to the health of San Diego County Residents. Among my scientific interests has been the epidemiology of injury, chronic disease, and innovative health education campaigns.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.