Development of a semi-structured, multifaceted, computer-aided questionnaire for outbreak investigation: e-Outbreak Platform
Journal
Biomedical Journal
Journal Volume
43
Journal Issue
4
Pages
318-324
Date Issued
2020
Author(s)
Yang S.-Y.
Chang J.-C.
Cheng W.-C.
Wang Y.-N.
Juan M.-H.
Hsu R.-T.
Huang S.-R.
Tu J.-J.
Wang P.-C.
Feng V.W.-S.
Abstract
Aggressive tracing of contacts of confirmed cases is crucial to Taiwan's successful control of the early spread of COVID-19. As the pandemic lingers, an epidemiological investigation that can be conducted efficiently in a timely manner can help decrease the burden on the health personnel and increase the usefulness of such information in decision making. To develop a new tool that can improve the current practice of epidemiological investigation by incorporating new technologies in digital platform and knowledge graphs. To meet the various needs of the epidemiological investigation, we decided to develop an e-Outbreak Platform that provides a semi-structured, multifaceted, computer-aided questionnaire for outbreak investigation. There are three major parts of the platform: (1) a graphic portal that allows users to have an at-glance grasp of the functions provided by the platform and then choose the one they need; (2) disease-specific questionnaires that can accommodate different formats of the information, including text typing, button selection, and pull-down menu; and (3) functions to utilize the stored information, including report generation, statistical analyses, and knowledge graphs displaying contact tracing. When the number of outbreak investigation increases, the knowledge graphs can be extended to encompass other persons appearing in the same location at the same time, i.e., constituting a potential contact cluster. The information extracted can also be used to display the tracing on a map in animation. Overall, this system can provide a basis for further refinement that can be generalized to a variety of outbreak investigations. ? 2020 Chang Gung University
SDGs
Other Subjects
access to information; computer aided design; coronavirus disease 2019; environmental exposure; epidemic; epidemiological monitoring; geographic mapping; human; infection control; information dissemination; knowledge base; questionnaire; real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction; Short Survey; statistical analysis; Taiwan; Betacoronavirus; Coronavirus infection; epidemic; female; male; pandemic; pathogenicity; virus pneumonia; Betacoronavirus; Coronavirus Infections; Disease Outbreaks; Female; Humans; Male; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral; Surveys and Questionnaires; Taiwan
Publisher
Elsevier B.V.
Type
short survey