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Evaluation of Emergency Department-Based Surveillance Systems at 2 Healthcare Facilities After Hurricane Maria: Puerto Rico, 2017-2018

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2019

Laura E. Adams ,
Luzeida Vargas ,
Veronica M. Frasqueri-Quintana ,
Xiomara Torres-Figueroa ,
Kyle Ryff ,
Liliana Sanchez-Gonzalez ,
Emma Little ,
Kaitlyn Ciampaglio ,
Julio M. Reyes Claudio  and
Elyonel Ponton-Cruz
...Show all authors
Laura E. Adams*
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vectorborne Diseases, Dengue Branch, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Luzeida Vargas
Affiliation:
Ponce Health Sciences University/Saint Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Veronica M. Frasqueri-Quintana
Affiliation:
Ponce Health Sciences University/Saint Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Xiomara Torres-Figueroa
Affiliation:
Ponce Health Sciences University/Saint Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Kyle Ryff
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vectorborne Diseases, Dengue Branch, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Liliana Sanchez-Gonzalez
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vectorborne Diseases, Dengue Branch, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Emma Little
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vectorborne Diseases, Dengue Branch, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Kaitlyn Ciampaglio
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance, Surveillance and Data Branch, Atlanta, Georgia
Julio M. Reyes Claudio
Affiliation:
Ponce Health Sciences University/Saint Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Elyonel Ponton-Cruz
Affiliation:
Ponce Health Sciences University/Saint Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Ponce, Puerto Rico
William Santiago
Affiliation:
Ponce Health Sciences University/Saint Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Gabriela Paz-Bailey
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vectorborne Diseases, Dengue Branch, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Luisa I. Alvarado
Affiliation:
Ponce Health Sciences University/Saint Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Ponce, Puerto Rico
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Dr Laura E. Adams, 1324 Calle Cañada, San Juan, PR, 00920 (email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Objectives:

Hurricane Maria caused catastrophic damage in Puerto Rico, increasing the risk for morbidity and mortality in the post-impact period. We aimed to establish a syndromic surveillance system to describe the number and type of visits at 2 emergency health-care settings in the same hospital system in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Methods:

We implemented a hurricane surveillance system by interviewing patients with a short questionnaire about the reason for visit at a hospital emergency department and associated urgent care clinic in the 6 mo after Hurricane Maria. We then evaluated the system by comparing findings with data from the electronic medical record (EMR) system for the same time period.

Results:

The hurricane surveillance system captured information from 5116 participants across the 2 sites, representing 17% of all visits captured in the EMR for the same period. Most visits were associated with acute illness/symptoms (79%), followed by injury (11%). The hurricane surveillance and EMR data were similar, proportionally, by sex, age, and visit category.

Conclusions:

The hurricane surveillance system provided timely and representative data about the number and type of visits at 2 sites. This system, or an adapted version using available electronic data, should be considered in future disaster settings.

Keywords

disasterhurricanesyndromic surveillance
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 17 , 2023 , e1
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 

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References

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