NSSP Update – April 2021
A Technical Newsletter for the NSSP Community of Practice | April 2021
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
Emergency Department Visits for COVID-19 by Race and Ethnicity—13 States, October–December 2020
New CDC report indicates some racial/ethnic minority groups experience emergency department care for COVID-19 at higher rates. NSSP data help to identify discrepancies. Read more.
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
Community Discusses Pandemic’s Impact on Mental Health ▪ Get Involved with YOUR Syndromic Community ▪ Additions to Knowledge Repository
Here’s how your NSSP Community of Practice is advancing syndromic surveillance.
TECHNICAL UPDATES
ESSENCE Table Shows Lab Data by Individual Results ▪ Job Aid Shows Priority of Data Elements ▪ NSSP’s Latest Software Release
TECHNICAL TIPS AND TRAINING
Updated Tip for Running SQL Queries in RStudio ▪ How to Write ESSENCE Free-text Queries
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Drive Space Allocation for RStudio and SAS ▪ Your Onboarding Questions Answered
Developing Syndrome Definitions
NSSP works with health departments and CDC programs to develop and improve syndrome definitions. Also see the NSSP Community of Practice Knowledge Repository.
NSSP Participation Map
NSSP is exploring how to better communicate the coverage provided by syndromic surveillance emergency department (ED) data. This map shows U.S. counties with emergency care facilities that participate in NSSP. Data will be published quarterly.
This will replace the measure based on the proportion of ED visits captured.
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.
| April 20 | NSSP Community of Practice Call (Monthly); 3:00–4:30 PM ET |
| April 20 | NSSP Vendor Patches (Testing and Development); 12:00–8:00 AM ET |
| April 22 | NSSP Vendor Patches (Onboarding and Production); 12:00–8:00 AM ET |
| April 27 | Data Sharing Workgroup Call (Monthly); 3:00–4:00 PM ET |
| May 5 | Syndrome Definition Subcommittee Call (Monthly); 1:00–2:00 PM ET |
| May 7 | Syndromic Surveillance and Public Health Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Subcommittee Call; 2:00–2:45 PM ET |
| May 10 | NSSP Community of Practice Core Committee Call (Monthly); 1:00–2:30 PM ET |
| May 12 | Race and Ethnicity Data Quality Improvement Workgroup; 3:00–4:00 PM ET |
| May 14 | Data Quality Subcommittee Call (Monthly); 12:00–1:00 PM ET |
| May 18 | NSSP Community of Practice Call (Monthly); 3:00–4:30 PM ET |
| May 25 | Data Sharing Workgroup Call (Monthly); 3:00–4:00 PM ET |
| June 13–17 | Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) 2021 Annual Conference: Building Bridges to Health. Read about the virtual conference. Register here. |
View more calendar details at the NSSP Community of Practice.
