NSSP Update – August 2020
A Technical Newsletter for the NSSP Community of Practice | August 2020
The National Syndromic Surveillance Program issues NSSP Update monthly to share the latest Community of Practice activities, technical and program updates, and ways in which syndromic surveillance is improving public health.
MMWR COVID-19 Briefing is a weekly podcast to update readers on the latest scientific information from CDC’s COVID-19 response. In this week’s episode, Dr. Charlotte Kent highlights reports about how long COVID-19 symptoms last in adults who haven’t been hospitalized, efforts to keep voters safe during an election in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and good news about rebounds in vaccination among children in New York City. Listen to the latest episode here.
PROGRAM NEWS
CAPT Loren Rodgers Named as Acting NSSP Lead
The National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) is pleased to announce that CAPT Loren Rodgers will serve as the acting NSSP lead. Rodgers has been instrumental in enhancing the tools, data sources, and support that NSSP provides to health departments.
SYNDROMIC SURVEILLANCE IN ACTION
North Carolina Improved Situation Awareness by Working with NSSP to Integrate Emergency Data Source
North Carolina used real-time syndromic surveillance data to monitor injuries, illness, and deaths during and after Hurricane Florence. With help from NSSP, data from evacuation shelters were quickly added to make situational awareness more complete. Read the story.
Read more stories about how states use syndromic surveillance.
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
Officers Elected, 2020 Syndromic Surveillance Symposium Goes Virtual, and Community Updates
IMPROVING THE PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSE
Developing a Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect Syndrome for State Health Departments
Syndromic surveillance offers a unique, near-real-time perspective on trends and medical conditions. This article provides the rationale for developing the Child Abuse and Neglect syndrome and lists challenges, solutions, and take-aways. Read this story and others that describe how NSSP works across CDC.
DATA QUALITY CORNER
Tools for Taking Data Quality into Your Own Hands
From reports to dashboards, here are the tools that you can use to monitor data quality.
TECHNICAL UPDATES
New ESSENCE Query Fields, Update to Shortness of Breath Syndrome, and AMC Enhancements
Monthly National-level Free-text ESSENCE Queries
Analysts can exercise a high level of customization by using free-text queries. They can quickly code free-text queries and rapidly respond to outbreaks, disasters, and health events that unfold. These word clouds capture free-text queries from a national perspective.
NSSP Participation Map and Coverage
NSSP data covers about 73% of all emergency department visits in the United States. Updates are published quarterly.
| August 14 | Data Quality Subcommittee Call (Monthly): 12:00–1:00 PM ET |
| August 18 | NSSP vendor patches in Testing and Development environments: 6:00–10:00 AM ET |
| August 18 | NSSP Community of Practice Call (Monthly): 3:00–4:30 PM ET |
| August 20 | NSSP vendor patches in Onboarding and Production environments: 6:00–10:00 AM ET |
| September 2 | Syndrome Definition Subcommittee Call (Monthly): 1:00–2:00 PM ET |
| September 4 | Syndromic Surveillance and Public Health Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Subcommittee Call (Monthly): 2:00–2:45 PM ET |
| September 8 | Urgent Care Subcommittee (Quarterly): 12:30–1:30 PM ET |
| September 11 | Data Quality Subcommittee Call (Monthly) 12:00–1:00 PM ET |
| September 14 | NSSP CoP Core Committee Call (Monthly): 1:00–2:30 PM ET |
| September 18 | Overdose Surveillance Subcommittee: 1:00–2:00 PM ET |
View more calendar details at the NSSP Community of Practice.
