Skip to main content
PMC home page
Public Health Reports logoLink to Public Health Reports
. 1988 Jul-Aug;103(4):415–421.

Improving disease reporting in Los Angeles County: trial and results.

B P Weiss 1, M A Strassburg 1, S L Fannin 1
PMCID: PMC1478087  PMID: 3136501

Abstract

A telephone survey of physicians in Los Angeles County revealed that 50 percent of 405 contacted were unaware of the legal mechanism for reporting communicable diseases--the Confidential Morbidity Report (CMR) card. After that survey, three measures were taken in an effort to improve reporting and surveillance: (a) use of a stamped self-addressed CMR postcard, (b) publication of the monthly newsletter "Public Health Letter," which was distributed to 23,000 health professionals in Los Angeles County free of charge, and (c) initiation of an active disease surveillance system that included 171 reporting sites contacted weekly (76 physicians, 36 schools, 33 preschools, 22 hospitals, and 4 university student health centers). No increase in the levels of disease reporting was observed, based on 4 years' experience with the revised CMR card and the Public Health Letter. The active disease surveillance system, however, has provided anecdotal reports of disease occurrence and notification of outbreaks of both reportable and nonreportable diseases. Moreover, the authors believe it has improved rapport between the county health department and the medical community.

Full text

PDF
421

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Kimball A. M., Thacker S. B., Levy M. E. Shigella surveillance in a large metropolitan area: assessment of a passive reporting system. Am J Public Health. 1980 Feb;70(2):164–166. doi: 10.2105/ajph.70.2.164. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Knox J. D., Anderson R. A. Influenza-like illness: a monitoring system. Ecol Dis. 1982;1(1):87–91. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Konowitz P. M., Petrossian G. A., Rose D. N. The underreporting of disease and physicians' knowledge of reporting requirements. Public Health Rep. 1984 Jan-Feb;99(1):31–35. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Langmuir A. D. William Farr: founder of modern concepts of surveillance. Int J Epidemiol. 1976 Mar;5(1):13–18. doi: 10.1093/ije/5.1.13. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Schaffner W., Scott H. D., Rosenstein B. J., Byrne E. B. Innovative communicable disease reporting. HSMHA Health Rep. 1971 May;86(5):431–436. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Thacker S. B., Choi K., Brachman P. S. The surveillance of infectious diseases. JAMA. 1983 Mar 4;249(9):1181–1185. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Tizes R., Pravda D. Proposed toll-free telephone reporting of notifiable diseases. Health Serv Rep. 1972 Aug-Sep;87(7):633–637. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Vogt R. L., LaRue D., Klaucke D. N., Jillson D. A. Comparison of an active and passive surveillance system of primary care providers for hepatitis, measles, rubella, and salmonellosis in Vermont. Am J Public Health. 1983 Jul;73(7):795–797. doi: 10.2105/ajph.73.7.795. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Public Health Reports are provided here courtesy of SAGE Publications

RESOURCES