Physician surveillance of influenza Collaboration between primary care and public health

Problem addressed Influenza-like illness (ILI) is a global and national concern. The surveillance of ILI requires collaborative efforts from many diverse settings, including primary care clinics. Objective of program To develop a sustainable reporting mechanism that enables primary care practices to provide ILI surveillance information to public health (PH) and addresses the needs of primary care practices and PH. Program description An automated, electronic ILI reporting program that collects information on ILI activity directly from family physicians; the program is integrated with the practice's electronic medical record (EMR) system and therefore does not require physician initiation or disrupt physician workflow. Surveillance information is collected from a random sample of patient encounters using an automated pop-up screen that appears when exiting the patient's EMR. Weekly summary reports are transmitted electronically to PH. Conclusion The EMR-integrated physician ILI reporting program is a simple and inexpensive way for family physicians to provide PH with important real-time, community-level disease surveillance information that is both complete and accurate. The program has been used in Hamilton, Ont, since 2004, which clearly demonstrates that it is a feasible and sustainable program in practice.