Detect epidemics quickly thanks to data - Innovation Committee recommends knowledge transfer from project - use during the corona pandemic

18.07.2023 14:33

The project “ESEG - Detection and Control of Epidemic Danger Situations” researched how real-time data from emergency rooms and the rescue service can be networked, evaluated and evaluated regionally. What's special: Instead of observing specific infectious diseases, combinations of signs of illness are recorded in order to identify patterns and trends (syndromic surveillance). Some tools and procedures have already been tested and successfully used under these real conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Innovation Committee at the Federal Joint Committee recommends taking up the findings and using them for systematic observation, analysis and reporting of infection data.

ESEG: Detection and control of epidemic danger situations

The project developed an innovative health monitoring concept and compared it with existing plans. The aim is to be able to react early to seasonal disease outbreaks or other health threats such as epidemics. In addition, instruments have been developed that can serve as decision-making aids, for example in the event of epidemics. The data from the emergency rooms and the rescue service flowed into a study database and was available for various evaluations in real time with the help of specific software:

• The emergency room surveillance system (SUMO) was developed and established in collaboration with the emergency room register of the Action Alliance for Information and Communication Technology in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine. It has been in the pilot phase since April 2020 and is being continuously developed at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). SUMO provides a higher-level IT architecture that was used during the COVID-19 pandemic for the RKI weekly report on emergency room utilization and can also be used for syndromic surveillance in the future (www.rki.de/sumo).
• A “High consequence infectious diseases” tool (HCID tool) was implemented as a travel history module and evaluated in a randomized controlled study. Even if the significance of this study is limited, there is evidence that the use of the tool has improved the level of knowledge, especially among medical staff. Usage satisfaction was high.
• The monitoring tool SARS-CoV-2 screening module allows the visualization and statistical evaluation of data specifically from emergency rooms.

For the Innovation Committee, the project has significantly advanced syndromic surveillance, even if further empirical research will be necessary to achieve transferable, reproducible results.

Project findings go to various institutions

The findings from the project will be forwarded to the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG). The BMG is asked to examine to what extent the instruments developed and the findings from the project can be incorporated into law in order to further develop the continuous and systematic observation, analysis and reporting (surveillance) of infections at the population level.

In addition, the project findings are passed on to the health ministries of the federal states. They are also asked to examine in their respective areas of responsibility - such as disaster control - the extent to which the developments and findings from the project can support needs-based surveillance.

For information purposes, the project results are also forwarded to various organizations in the healthcare system: to the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds, to the German Hospital Society, to the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, to the German Society for Interdisciplinary Emergency and Acute Medicine, to the German Society for Emergency services and preclinical emergency medicine and to the German Center for Infection Research.

The Innovation Committee publishes the feedback from these institutions - alongside the Resolution and the results report – on his website.