Lessons learned: Training and implementation of an electronic surveillance system in North Carolina

The North Carolina Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NC EDSS) is a centralized Web-based system for disease reporting that is expected to improve the timeliness, reliability and accuracy of reportable communicable diseases in North Carolina. In 2008, staff from every NC local health department (LHD) (n=85) received face-to-face training on use of NC EDSS to report communicable diseases to the North Carolina Division of Public Health. Subsequent to the training, on-site technical assistance was provided during the week each LHD began to use the system. This presentation discusses the challenges related to LHDs transitioning from reporting to the NC DPH via the existing paper-based system to reporting using NC EDSS. It describes the training plan design and resources needed to train all health departments statewide in such a short period of time. The presentation will identify aspects of the training and on-site assistance that were successful and areas where improvements can be made. It will discuss results from self-reported post-training evaluation data and results collected from user audits, an audit of the data each user has entered into the system. The presentation also examines the factors which may have impacted users' success at utilizing NC EDSS.