Citation

Adams LE, Vargas L, Frasqueri-Quintana VM, Torres-Figueroa X, Ryff K, Sánchez-González L, Little E, Ciampaglio K, Reyes Claudio JM, Ponton-Cruz E, Santiago W, Paz-Bailey G, Alvarado LI. Disaster Med. Public Health Prep. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Ponce Health Sciences University/Saint Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Publisher Cambridge University Press)

DOI

10.1017/dmp.2019.79

PMID

31475668

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Hurricane Maria caused catastrophic damage in Puerto Rico, increasing the risk for morbidity and mortality in the post-impact period. We aimed to establish a syndromic surveillance system to describe the number and type of visits at 2 emergency health-care settings in the same hospital system in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

METHODS: We implemented a hurricane surveillance system by interviewing patients with a short questionnaire about the reason for visit at a hospital emergency department and associated urgent care clinic in the 6 mo after Hurricane Maria. We then evaluated the system by comparing findings with data from the electronic medical record (EMR) system for the same time period.

RESULTS: The hurricane surveillance system captured information from 5116 participants across the 2 sites, representing 17% of all visits captured in the EMR for the same period. Most visits were associated with acute illness/symptoms (79%), followed by injury (11%). The hurricane surveillance and EMR data were similar, proportionally, by sex, age, and visit category.

CONCLUSIONS: The hurricane surveillance system provided timely and representative data about the number and type of visits at 2 sites. This system, or an adapted version using available electronic data, should be considered in future disaster settings.

Language: en

Keywords

disaster; hurricane; syndromic surveillance