Triage Notes in Syndromic Surveillance – A Double Edged Sword

The advent of Meaningful Use has allowed for the expansion of data collected at the hospital level and received by public health for syndromic surveillance. The triage note, a free text expansion on the chief complaint, is one of the many variables that are becoming commonplace in syndromic surveillance data feeds. This roundtable will provide a forum for the ISDS community to discuss the use of emergency department triage notes in syndromic surveillance. It will be an opportunity to discuss both the benefits of having this variable included in syndromic surveillance data feeds, as well as the drawbacks and challenges associated with working with such a detailed data field.