Assignment 11 JAH

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University of Maryland, University College *

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661

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Health Science

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Jun 27, 2024

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docx

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1 Assignment 11: Public Health Surveillance Janel Handy University of Maryland Global Campus HIMS 661: The Application of Information Technology in Healthcare Administration Dr. Craig Drayden August 2, 2023
2 Public Health Surveillance Public Health Surveillance is the ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health-related data essential to planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2018). During COVID-19 pandemic, public health surveillance was pertinent to help end the worldwide pandemic and reduce morbidity, mortality, and impact. The evaluation of COVID-19 data help public health officials to analyze vaccinations, deaths, and hospitalizations to monitor the progress of the virus and predict trends regarding transmission of the disease. Therefore, surveillance data helped to identify areas where risk of exposure was high and identify groups of people who were the most vulnerable to help mitigate the risk. The CDC utilized various tools to help collect and analyze information based off of the type of data such as contact tracing, electronic health records, and laboratory results. Contact tracing was utilized to help identify people who were exposed to the virus and follow up on their progress whereas electronic health records were utilized to collect patient-level data such as demographics and medical history. The use of this information helped the CDC to have a more comprehensive view of the pandemic and assisted with making informed decisions regarding the pandemic. The various tools were utilized to help monitor the progress of the virus, devise plans to mitigate risk of exposure, and make informed decision. During the pandemic, data regarding hospitalizations and COVID-19 cases were utilized to show areas where the transmission rate was higher to help make informed decisions on which areas needed to implement lockdown restrictions. Additionally, the information gathered helped public health officials to learn what resources were needed.
3 The CDC COVID-19 tracker website collected data pertaining to COVID cases, hospitalizations, death, vaccinations, and variants. The COVID-19 tracker provided the number of cases geographically as well as age, race, and gender were included in the data tracker. This information was useful when analyzing what demographic was mostly affected by COVID-19. Additionally, hospitalizations were tracked to analyze the number of people who were hospitalized due to COVID-19. Tracking hospitalizations were useful for providers and clinical workers to implement processes when caring for COVID-19 patients. Patients who passed away due to COVID-19 complications were tracked to analyze the cause of their death and if they had pre-existing conditions. Scientist developed vaccines to help combat the rapid transmission of COVID-19. The trackers helped to inform public health officials on the number of people who received the vaccine and the demographic of what population received the vaccine. The CDC utilized various communication channels to disseminate information regarding COVID-19 such as the COVID-19 tracker website, media, and press releases. However, the CDC Tracker website was used consistently due to the data being updated in real time which helped to give the healthcare industry and the public information on how the disease was progressing. Traditional media such as online newspapers, television channels, and radio was the main source of information regarding COVID-19. The media world attempted to be the first to provide information without providing too many details to prevent the possibility of false information. There was a lot of false information being communicated especially via social media. Social media was the source of 88% of misinformation whereas misinformation is defined as false information being shared but no harm is meant (OECD,
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