Ms Alison Pickering1, Ms Brooke Jones1
1Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, Australia
Biography:
I am the Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) of the Infection Monitoring and Prevention service at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) in Herston Brisbane. I have a passion for paediatrics, immunisation, quality improvements and streamlining surveillance programs to have a collaborative working relationship with health information management.
Abstract:
Measles is a highly transmissible disease with a reproduction number (R 0) of 12-18. With such a high R 0, prompt identification by triage is required to mitigate the risk of transmission. Emergency departments are inherently busy environments, and measles case identification or differential diagnosis can be delayed, resulting in time-constrained contact tracing. While the use of technology can help expedite contact tracing and follow up requirements, it often raises privacy and ethical considerations.
Communicable Disease Control (CDC) recently updated recommendations for measles presentations in both vaccinated and in people who had an IgG seroconversion. This prompted a change in practice for following up HCWs in the event of an exposure. At the completion of traditional contact tracing the identified at risk staff were placed on a 21-day RedCapp electronic surveillance program. Staff received a daily text of set symptom-based questions. HCW’s were also encouraged to assess their mental health asking if they were feeling overwhelmed. A HCW who answered yes to any question was given electronic prompts to contact infection control for further follow-up.
A total of 24 HCWs received a daily symptom check for 21 days post exposure. Each question was asked 232 times over the 21-day period with a compliance rate of over 99%. 79% of HCW respondents felt this electronic method supported them on their post exposure journey. 79% also said they preferred an SMS over a phone call.
Overall, utilising electronic surveillance reduced the follow up workload burden on infection control practitioners.