With the H1N1 Pandemic still fresh in our minds, the Winter Olympics have zeroed the spotlight on Vancouver. With 70,000 visitors per day, 5,000 athletes and staff, 1,350 Paralympic athletes, 10,000 media, 25,000 volunteers, and 8,000 security personnel, a single disease outbreak can become catastrophic. Historically, mass gatherings have been particularly sensitive to vector outbreaks. The 2006 Turin games, for example, were no exception – respiratory syndrome with fever (influenza) and gastroenteritis (Norovirus) were the most common pathologies.1 Unlike Turin however, Vancouver is ready. We are at the forefront of Technology-Enabled Knowledge Translation (TEKT) in practice.
TEKT refers to the strategic deployment of modern information and communication technologies to help individuals and organizations accelerate the incorporation of research and new knowledge into clinical practice.2 For the Olympics, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) is responsible for deploying one of the most intricate public health surveillance systems ever designed for a planned mass gathering.3 As a medium of dissemination and performance evaluation by the system, technology is the modus operandi in the integration of fourteen data sources which allow for continuous assessment, monitoring, and public health response. Table 1 (below) displays the data sources, including both existing and enhanced data resources created for solely for Olympic surveillance by VCH. The intricacy doesn’t stop there however. All components of data collection are also congruent with the Olympic Movement Medical Code,4 the document which describes the rules and medical practices for Olympians and prevents positive doping tests resulting from medical treatment.
Table 1: Surveillance System Components
Existing Data | Data Enhancements |
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February 25th, 2010 | Articles by me, e-Public Health, English | 1 comment