Syndromic surveillance is the ongoing collection and assessment of health-related data to monitor for public health emergencies in near real-time. Within Indiana, ESSENCE, the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics, provides public health professionals and hospital staff with near real-time data to monitor and quickly detect public health emergencies or disease outbreaks. On average, this data is received within hours of a visit to the hospital. The cases of interest are identified in ESSENCE using query definitions that include a combination of keywords found in the chief complaint, discharge diagnosis, and triage notes of a visit to the Emergency Department. These visits rely on the patient exhibiting clinical signs or symptoms of a specific condition or injury; therefore, all cases within ESSENCE are considered suspected as opposed to confirmed.
For questions or to request access to Indiana ESSENCE, please contact Shelby Nierman.
Click here for the Indiana ESSENCE User Agreement Form