Notifiable infectious disease reporting awareness among physicians and registered nurses in primary care and emergency department settings

Building the hospital event-based surveillance system in Viet Nam: a qualitative study to identify potential facilitators and barriers for event reporting

Introduction

Hospitals are a key source of information for the early identification of emerging disease outbreaks and acute public health events for risk assessment, decision-making and public health response. The objective of this study was to identify potential facilitators and barriers for event reporting from the curative sector to the preventive medicine sector in Viet Nam.

Methods

In 2016, we conducted 18 semi-structured, in-depth interviews, as well as nine focus group discussions, with representatives from the curative and preventive medicine sectors in four provinces. We transcribed the interviews and focus group discussions and used thematic analysis to identify the factors that appeared to affect public health event reporting.

Results

We identified five major themes. First, the lack of a legal framework to guide reporting meant hospital staff relied on internal procedures that varied from hospital to hospital, which sometimes delayed reporting. Second, participants stated the importance of an enabling environment, such as leadership support and having focal points for reporting, to facilitate reporting. Third, participants described the potential benefits of reporting, such as support provided during outbreaks and information received about local outbreaks. Fourth, some challenges prohibited timely reporting such as not perceiving reporting to be the task of the curative sector and hesitancy to report without laboratory confirmation. Finally, limited resources and specialist capacities in remote areas hindered timely detection and reporting of unusual events.

Discussion

This study identified potential opportunities to promote the detection and reporting of unusual events from health-care workers to the public health sector, and thus to improve the overall health security system in Viet Nam.The influenza virus is a respiratory pathogen that is transmitted through respiratory droplets. ¹ During seasonal influenza epidemics, high attack rates cause a significant public health burden. ² The infection is usually self-limited in young adults but can lead to severe infections in people in high-risk groups, including elderly people (> 65 years old), pregnant women, children aged 6-59 months and adults with chronic illnesses. ³.

Knowledge, Awareness, and Compliance of Disease Surveillance and Notification Among Jordanian Physicians in Residency Programs

Health professionals’ knowledge and awareness of the disease surveillance is essential for reporting diseases to health departments. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitudes of Jordanian physicians toward public health surveillance of communicable disease. A cross-sectional study was conducted among resident doctors who were working in 4 main Ministry of Health hospitals and 2 teaching hospitals in Jordan in September 2017. A self-administered paper-based questionnaire was used to collect the data. The questionnaire collected information about sociodemographic and practice-related characteristics of physicians and included items to assess their knowledge of surveillance and reporting practices. This study included 223 physicians (152 males and 71 females). About 60.1% of the residents were graduates from medical schools in Jordan and the remaining (39.9%) were graduates from medical schools in other countries. Approximately two thirds of residents (62.3%) were doing their residency in Ministry of Health hospitals and the rest (37.7%) in 2 teaching hospitals. Only 44.8% of physicians had defined surveillance correctly. Only 27.4% of physicians had been educated or trained on surveillance. About 39.5% of physicians had filled at least one report form during their practice. The main reasons for not reporting mandatory diseases were high workload (49.8%) and being not trained on reporting diseases (46.6%). A relatively high percentage of physicians have insufficient knowledge of surveillance and reporting of notifiable communicable diseases. Training of physicians on surveillance and diseases notification is highly needed. The practice of disease notification should be enforced in Jordanian hospitals.

Survey of Communicable Diseases Surveillance System in Hospitals of Iran: A Qualitative Approach

Background:

Communicable Disease Surveillance and reporting is one of the key elements to combat against diseases and their control. Fast and timely recognition of communicable diseases can be helpful in controlling of epidemics. One of the main sources of management of communicable diseases reporting is hospitals that collect communicable diseases’ reports and send them to health authorities. One of the focal problems and challenges in this regard is incomplete and imprecise reports from hospitals. In this study, while examining the implementation processes of the communicable diseases surveillance in hospitals, non-medical people who were related to the program have been studied by a qualitative approach.

Methods:

This study was conducted using qualitative content analysis method. Participants in the study included 36 informants, managers, experts associated with health and surveillance of communicable diseases that were selected using targeted sampling and with diverse backgrounds and work experience (different experiences in primary health surveillance and treatment, Ministry levels, university staff and operations (hospitals and health centers) and sampling was continued until arrive to data saturation.

Results:

Interviews were analyzed after the elimination of duplicate codes and integration of them. Finally, 73 codes were acquired and categorized in 6 major themes and 21 levels. The main themes included: policy making and planning, development of resources, organizing, collaboration and participation, surveillance process, and monitoring and evaluation of the surveillance system. In point of interviewees, attention to these themes is necessary to develop effective and efficient surveillance system for communicable diseases.

Conclusion:

Surveillance system in hospitals is important in developing proper macro - policies in health sector, adoption of health related decisions and preventive plans appropriate to the existing situation. Compilation, changing, improving, monitoring and continuous updating of surveillance systems can play a significant role in its efficiency and effectiveness. In the meantime, policy makers’ and senior managers’ support in development and implementation of communicable disease surveillance’ plans and their reporting plays a key and core role.

Notifiable disease reporting among public sector physicians in Nigeria: a cross-sectional survey to evaluate possible barriers and identify best sources of information

BACKGROUND

Since 2001, Nigeria has collected information on epidemic-prone and other diseases of public health importance through the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response system (IDSR). Currently 23 diseases are designated as "notifiable" through IDSR, including human infection with avian influenza (AI). Following an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) in Nigerian poultry populations in 2006 and one laboratory confirmed human infection in 2007, a study was carried out to describe knowledge, perceptions, and practices related to infectious disease reporting through the IDSR system, physicians' preferred sources of heath information, and knowledge of AI infection in humans among public sector physicians in Nigeria.

METHODS

During November to December 2008, 245 physicians in six Nigerian cities were surveyed through in-person interviews. Survey components included reporting practices for avian influenza and other notifiable diseases, perceived obstacles to disease reporting, methods for obtaining health-related information, and knowledge of avian influenza among participating physicians.

RESULTS

All 245 respondents reported that they had heard of AI and that humans could become infected with AI. Two-thirds (163/245) had reported a notifiable disease. The most common perceived obstacles to reporting were lack of infrastructure/logistics or reporting system (76/245, 31%), lack of knowledge among doctors about how to report or to whom to report (64/245, 26%), and that doctors should report certain infectious diseases (60/245, 24%). Almost all participating physicians (>99%) reported having a cell phone that they currently use, and 86% reported using the internet at least weekly.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the majority of physicians surveyed were knowledgeable of and had reported notifiable diseases, they identified many perceived obstacles to reporting. In order to effectively identify human AI cases and other infectious diseases through IDSR, reporting system requirements need to be clearly communicated to participating physicians, and perceived obstacles, such as lack of infrastructure, need to be addressed. Future improvements to the reporting system should account for increased utilization of the internet, as well as cell phone and email-based communication.

Estimating the burden of pertussis in young children on hospitals and emergency departments: a study using linked routinely collected data

Potential underestimation of the health system burden of pertussis was investigated by linking administrative datasets including pertussis notifications, hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) presentations for 1 304 876 children aged <15 years in NSW, Australia. From 2005 to 2008, 3006 children had a pertussis notification, 455 were hospitalized and 644 had an ED presentation with a coded diagnosis of pertussis. Linking hospital and ED records with pertussis notifications identified 140 hospitalizations and 735 ED presentations which occurred ± 7 days from notification but did not have a diagnosis of pertussis recorded. These additional events were more likely to have a diagnosis of bronchiolitis, upper respiratory infection and cough compared to all other admissions and presentations. Including these additional events significantly increased the proportion of notified cases that were hospitalized or visited EDs, particularly for those aged 5 to <15 years. Linked administrative data allowed more comprehensive estimation of the health system burden of pertussis.

[Notifiable infectious diseases: knowledge and notification among hospital physicians]

INTRODUCTION

Notifiable infectious diseases represent a public health hazard, which is why they are under surveillance and must be reported. We tried to assess hospital physicians' knowledge of hospital physicians on notifiable infectious diseases and their self-reported attitudes to notification.

METHODS

An observational study was conducted using a questionnaire with 11 multiple choice questions, two yes/no questions and one short-answer question. It was distributed to all senior doctors and residents in 19 medical and surgical departments.

RESULTS

A total of 248 questionnaires were sent out, with a response rate of 79.84%. More than three-quarters (76.3%) of the respondents were senior doctors. As regards specific knowledge about whether a particular disease is a notifiable disease, 29.5% identified correctly 100% of the named diseases, 3.2% could not identify any of them. All urgent named notifiable infectious diseases were correctly identified by 25.3% of physicians. Statistically significant differences were found in the knowledge of notifiable diseases knowledge in medical and surgical departments, as well as for senior doctors (P=.047) and residents (P=.035). A high percentage of medical services (40%) and surgical (70%) department reported never failing to notify. When asked about the causes of under-reporting, 72% did not know whether notification was mandatory or not, and 88% did not know what diseases must be notified.

CONCLUSIONS

Although many respondents are aware that diseases notification is part of their daily activity, many of them admit under-reporting. There is insufficient knowledge about what diseases are considered notifiable infectious diseases and how to notify them.