Use of a Real-Time Syndromic Surveillance System to Improve Influenza Like Illness Screening and Documentation in Emergency Departments during the H1N1 Pandemic

Objective Screening for Influenza Like Illness (ILI) is an important infection control activity within emergency departments (ED). When ILI screening is routinely completed in the ED it becomes clinically useful in isolating potentially infectious persons and protecting others from exposure to disease. When routinely collected, ILI screening in an electronic clinical application, with real time reporting, can be useful in Public Health surveillance activities and can support resource allocation decisions e.g. increasing decontamination cleaning. However, the reliability of documentation is unproven. Efforts to support the adoption of ILI screening documentation in a computer application, without mandatory field support, can lead to long term success and increased adherence.