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Evaluation of a national surveillance unit

M Gazarian1, K Williams, E Elliott

  • 1Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, University of Sydney, Australia.

Archives of Disease in Childhood
|May 18, 1999
PubMed

Insights

The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) largely meets its goals for tracking rare childhood diseases and satisfies Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) evaluation criteria. Improvements in information dissemination and system design are recommended.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Public Health
  • Epidemiology
  • Health Surveillance Systems

Background:

  • The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) is a national system for active surveillance of uncommon childhood conditions.
  • Evaluating the effectiveness and adherence to established criteria of surveillance systems is crucial for public health.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit's (APSU) fulfillment of its objectives.
  • To determine if the APSU meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria for evaluating surveillance systems.

Main Methods:

  • Anonymous questionnaires were distributed to APSU users, including clinicians, investigators, and public health professionals.
  • Individual studies conducted by the APSU were reviewed.
  • Data were collected from independent sources to validate system performance.

Main Results:

  • Clinician feedback indicated the APSU is useful, with 33% reporting practice changes and 88% finding monthly reporting not burdensome.
  • Estimated study sensitivity varied widely (31%-92%), with a positive predictive value over 70% for most notified cases.
  • Limited impact on policy was attributed to suboptimal information dissemination; flexibility and timeliness were constrained by system design.

Conclusions:

  • The APSU successfully meets most of its objectives and adheres to relevant CDC evaluation criteria.
  • Identified areas for improvement include enhancing information dissemination to public health professionals and addressing design limitations in flexibility and timeliness.
  • Methodological challenges were noted in applying CDC guidelines to this specific type of surveillance unit.
Abstract

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