Tarrant County Public Health and the Southwest Center for Advanced Public Health Practice have developed a Web-based communications portal that attempts to strengthen the relationship between public health and area public schools, especially during an infectious disease outbreak. The goal of the portal is to: (1) integrate syndromic surveillance data collection into schools through a web-based survey tool on absenteeism that schools can upload and submit to the health department daily during the influenza season; (2) provide a mechanism to share public health information with the schools by placing flu prevention resources on the portal; and (3) provide public health data to schools, including up-to-date maps of influenza activity in the area.
The Web-based portal includes multiple components that not only aid in surveillance, but also may help to mitigate influenza in a school setting. The project developers note several problems that could arise when using the portal for surveillance, including the difficulty with which school nurses obtain accurate reasons for absenteeism and the lack of participation from various schools in the district. Despite these potential issues, one reviewer wrote that the practice provides valuable surveillance data, uses sound methods, and includes an extensive evaluation that explains each aspect of the project in detail. The information is presented in a way that could easily be replicated by other schools or inform recommendations for similar projects between local public health and public schools. An update to this practice (forthcoming) will include a way to make the software available to other health departments once the project is complete.
