Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
need to watch their exertion level and remain hydrated. In the future we'll
be talking to those people.” New warnings to adult men who work outside
were carried by the WRAL evening news in Raleigh. The
Raleigh News and
Observer
ran the story on August 28 and 29. In the excitement and rush to
get the message out, records were not kept on each press report; however,
Roberts, Maillard, and Devlin all report that information about changes in
the heat recommendations were carried widely over English- and Spanish-
language radio following the press release. The health department staff were
exhilarated with the results. As Roberts said, “It was a lot of fun. We discov-
ered something novel. Newspapers published the information, and things
got done.”
16.5 Conclusions
It is difficult to determine the extent to which the news advisories resulted
in direct health benefits making it difficult to quantify the impact of the NC
DETECT on health benefits. Theoretically, targeting health bulletins to those
at highest risk as opposed to those at relatively lower risk intuitively makes
a lot of sense. Preliminary statistical evidence suggests that North Carolina
experienced fewer heat-related admissions in September of 2007 than on days
of similar temperatures that occurred earlier in the summer and that work-
ing age men were responsible for this decrease (Rein et al., working paper).
However, these statistical analyses are as yet unpublished and merely show
an association between the time period following the announcement and
lower heat admissions as opposed to a causal relationship. Still, this use of
the NC DETECT serves as a case study, demonstrating the value of syndro-
mic surveillance to track public health events in real time.
Syndromic surveillance represents a new technology that uses admin-
istrative records to identify and track emerging trends in public health.
Although first envisioned as an early warning system, syndromic surveil-
lance is potentially more useful as a tool for enhancing situation awareness
of public health events. The story of using North Carolina's NC DETECT
system to monitor the 2007 summer heat wave provides some important
lessons in both the possible uses of syndromic surveillance and the con-
textual details that facilitate its use. The comprehensiveness of the systems
statewide coverage and the systems flexibility greatly enhanced the systems
utility in shaping real-time changes in health policy. NC DETECT's high
coverage levels were achieved through a statewide mandate requiring the
participation of all emergency rooms across the state, a situation unique
to North Carolina as of 2009. Much of the systems flexibility resulted from
the strong partnership developed between the North Carolina Division
of Public Health and the University of North Carolina. This longstanding
