With an eye towards modernizing public health surveillance data, NACDD developed a course curriculum intended to help health departments and other users of clinical data identify the fundamentals of clinical data capture and electronic health record (EHR) systems and identify strengths and limitations of using clinical data for public health surveillance.

The three courses each include several self-paced training modules and associated resources:

Understanding Clinical Data: A Data User Perspective

Modules:

• Origins and Nature of Clinical Data
• Management of Clinical Data by Healthcare Organizations
• Clinical Data Aggregation: Bringing Data Together to Advance Health
• Governance: Building and Sustaining Trust in an Information Partnership

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Using Clinical Data: Transformation into Chronic Disease Surveillance Information

Modules:

• Strengths and Limitations of Clinical Data for Public Health Surveillance
• Getting Beyond the Limitations—Optimizing Clinical Data for Chronic Disease Surveillance

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Introduction to Multi-State EHR-Based Network for Disease Surveillance (MENDS)

Modules:

• MENDS: A Novel Approach to Chronic Disease Surveillance
• Using RiskScape: A Powerful Tool for Visualizing Chronic Disease Prevalence
  

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To promote this course curriculum and foster collaborative discussion among epidemiologists, data analysts, evaluators, program managers, and other health partner audiences, NACDD launched a new four-week cohort course on how to use clinical data in public health practice. The “Enhancing Chronic Disease Surveillance with Clinical Data” cohort course–being held in April and June–includes live weekly sessions with guest experts, peer to peer sharing, as well as engagement with the online courses/modules. This cohort course provides an opportunity to learn how data modernization involving EHR systems is transforming chronic disease surveillance at state and federal levels. Participants also learn about efforts by CDC and state health departments to develop new information partnerships.

Visit NACDD’s Learning Center to create an account to then access the free self-guided course curriculum.

• Learn more about MENDS

• Read the newly published research report in the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice: “Leveraging Electronic Health Record Data for Timely Chronic Disease Surveillance: The Multi-State EHR-Based Network for Disease Surveillance.”