Maryland Electronic System Provides Early H1N1 Detection

Evan Sweeney, for HealthLeaders Media, November 4, 2009

There are also algorithms built into the system that initiate alerts if a particular hospital is seeing an increased compliant above the expected level. Yellow or red alerts are issued depending on the number of complaints.

"The idea is this is a way to get a very early indicator during a biological event, an outbreak, or a chemical event, before they get the confirmatory lab data," Phillips says.

One of the primary advantages to the system is the ability to effectively communicate with the public and spread awareness to prevent a surge on hospitals and protect the public from transmitting the disease.

"Right now, what we are seeing is this tremendous increase in emergency room visits in Baltimore city and we know that is because the flu is here," Phillips says. "So we are working with hospitals to advise the public about what does and does not warrant a trip to the emergency room. You don't want to overload that really important part of the healthcare system. On the other hand, people who need to go absolutely need to go. So it's an important message, but to be able to have the data to know when to put the message out is part of what's very helpful for us."

The other phase that Maryland has integrated into the system includes data from more than 200 chain pharmacies in the state to track over-the-counter medicine sales. ESSENCE organizes the sales according to the symptoms each medicine is designed to treat including, fever, diarrhea, headache, and cough.

Maryland's next phase is to incorporate school systems to track absenteeism among students as an indication of possible flu disease outbreaks. Paired with the other data, it could form a concrete prediction of where the infection is spreading.

"It's a little bit more challenging because school health programs don't have the IT savvy and capability that hospitals and pharmacies do, but we are getting there," Phillips says.

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Evan Sweeney is an editorial assistant at HCPro. He manages and writes for Briefings on Infection Control, a monthly newsletter directed at IC compliance. He also blogs for OSHA Healthcare Advisor, a resource center for infection control and safety professionals, and regularly contributes to Medical Environment Update and OSHA Watch, which focus on healthcare employee safety and health.

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