Surveillance Webinar: Introduction to Public Health Surveillance: Part III – Recent Developments-Surveillance Webinar: Introduction to Public Health Surveillance Part III

Surveillance Webinar: Introduction to Public Health Surveillance Part III – Recent Developments Recording

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The webinar, part of a preventive medicine curriculum on surveillance and environmental health, reviewed recent developments in public health surveillance. Drs. Parrish and McDonald first revisited the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS), explaining how states and territories report notifiable conditions to CDC, and highlighting longstanding problems with traditional reporting such as incomplete data and delays.

They then focused on three newer surveillance approaches designed to improve timeliness, completeness, and accuracy:

1. <strong>Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR)</strong> – automates transmission of lab results from laboratory information systems to public health agencies, reducing manual entry and speeding reporting.
2. <strong>Electronic Case Reporting (ECR)</strong> – uses electronic health records, standardized codes, and the Reportable Condition Knowledge Management System (RCKMS) to automatically identify and forward reportable cases. The process is largely automatic and can return a reportability response to the medical record.
3. <strong>Wastewater Surveillance</strong> – tracks pathogens and substances in community sewage, offering population-level insight into infectious diseases and drug use, including COVID-19, influenza, RSV, and emerging threats.

The presenters also discussed implementation growth during the COVID-19 pandemic and noted that some systems are still being phased in or used alongside traditional reporting. In closing, they described future directions such as self-reported home testing, internet search trends, and crowdsourced data, emphasizing that surveillance should remain grounded in clear objectives, representative data where possible, and thoughtful human interpretation.

Keywords

public health surveillance

NNDSS

electronic laboratory reporting

electronic case reporting

wastewater surveillance

reportable conditions

CDC reporting

RCKMS

infectious disease monitoring

COVID-19 surveillance

environmental health