HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2007.114710v1 AJPH.2007.114710v2 AJPH.2007.114710v3 98/9/1706    most recent Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Dausey, D. J. Articles by Lurie, N. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Dausey, D. J. Articles by Lurie, N. Related Collections Social Science Other Health Service Delivery Mental Health

David J. Dausey, PhD, Anita Chandra, DrPH, Agnes G. Schaefer, PhD, Ben Bahney, MPIA, Amelia Haviland, PhD, Sarah Zakowski, BA and Nicole Lurie, MD, MSPH

David J. Dausey is with the RAND Corporation and the Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. Anita Chandra, Ben Bahney, and Sarah Zakowski are with the RAND Corporation, Arlington, VA. Agnes G. Schaefer, Amelia Haviland, and Nicole Lurie are with the RAND Corporation, Pittsburgh.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to David J. Dausey, RAND Corp, 4570 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (e-mail: dausey{at}rand.org).

Objectives. We tested telephone-based disease surveillance systems in local health departments to identify system characteristics associated with consistent and timely responses to urgent case reports.

Methods. We identified a stratified random sample of 74 health departments and conducted a series of unannounced tests of their telephone-based surveillance systems. We used regression analyses to identify system characteristics that predicted fast connection with an action officer (an appropriate public health professional).

Results. Optimal performance in consistently connecting callers with an action officer in 30 minutes or less was achieved by 31% of participating health departments. Reaching a live person upon dialing, regardless of who that person was, was the strongest predictor of optimal performance both in being connected with an action officer and in consistency of connection times.

Conclusions. Health departments can achieve optimal performance in consistently connecting a caller with an action officer in 30 minutes or less and may improve performance by using a telephone-based disease surveillance system in which the phone is answered by a live person at all times.