Abstract
BackgroundTimely reporting of microbiology test results is essential for infection management. Automated, machine-to-machine (M2M) reporting of diagnostic and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data from laboratory information management systems (LIMS) to public health agencies improves timeliness and completeness of communicable disease surveillance.AimWe surveyed microbiology data reporting practices for national surveillance of EU-notifiable diseases in European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries in 2018.MethodsEuropean Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) National Microbiology and Surveillance Focal Points completed a questionnaire on the modalities and scope of clinical microbiology laboratory data reporting.ResultsComplete data were provided for all 30 EU/EEA countries. Clinical laboratories used a LIMS in 28 countries. LIMS data on EU-notifiable diseases and AMR were M2M-reported to the national level in 14 and nine countries, respectively. In the 14 countries, associated demographic data reported allowed the de-duplication of patient reports. In 13 countries, M2M-reported data were used for cluster detection at the national level. M2M laboratory data reporting had been validated against conventional surveillance methods in six countries, and replaced those in five. Barriers to M2M reporting included lack of information technology support and financial incentives.ConclusionM2M-reported laboratory data were used for national public health surveillance and alert purposes in nearly half of the EU/EEA countries in 2018. Reported data on infectious diseases and AMR varied in extent and disease coverage across countries and laboratories. Improving automated laboratory-based surveillance will depend on financial and regulatory incentives, and harmonisation of health information and communication systems.
Highlights
IntroductionElectronic laboratory-based data reporting has been shown to be an effective and efficient method to automate and improve the timeliness and completeness of communicable diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance at the healthcare institution level, as well as the national public health level [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10].The routine use of digital laboratory data for surveillance purposes has been reported from European countries such as Denmark [11,12] and France [6,13] the extent to which such automated laboratory data reporting methods from clinical diagnostic laboratories to national surveillance systems are used has not been mapped systematically in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA).As a part of the monitoring of EU/EEA national laboratory capacities for public health surveillance and control of infectious diseases, 17 of 30 EU/EEA countries reported, that in 2016, their surveillance networks of clinical laboratories reported microbiology data for at least one disease by machine-to-machine (M2M) upload to a central national public health database [14]
The questionnaire administered in the European Union (EU) survey tool was developed by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in consultation with the National Microbiology Focal Points (NMFPs) and National Surveillance Focal Points (NSFPs) who are the European Economic Area (EU/Economic Area (EEA)) countries’ designated experts for advice on specific public health functions to ECDC as outlined in the Terms of reference, Annex 3 [16]
Each of the 30 EU/EEA countries provided a complete response the survey, i.e. all countries responded to all 21 questions
Summary
Electronic laboratory-based data reporting has been shown to be an effective and efficient method to automate and improve the timeliness and completeness of communicable diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance at the healthcare institution level, as well as the national public health level [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10].The routine use of digital laboratory data for surveillance purposes has been reported from European countries such as Denmark [11,12] and France [6,13] the extent to which such automated laboratory data reporting methods from clinical diagnostic laboratories to national surveillance systems are used has not been mapped systematically in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA).As a part of the monitoring of EU/EEA national laboratory capacities for public health surveillance and control of infectious diseases, 17 of 30 EU/EEA countries reported, that in 2016, their surveillance networks of clinical laboratories reported microbiology data for at least one disease by machine-to-machine (M2M) upload to a central national public health database [14]. The primary objective of this survey was to investigate the modalities and scope of clinical microbiology laboratory data reporting for the national surveillance of EU-notifiable diseases and AMR across Europe. It assessed the public health use of this information for rapid threat detection and timely response. Machine-to-machine (M2M) reporting of diagnostic and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data from laboratory information management systems (LIMS) to public health agencies improves timeliness and completeness of communicable disease surveillance. Aim: We surveyed microbiology data reporting practices for national surveillance of EU-notifiable diseases in European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries in 2018. Improving automated laboratory-based surveillance will depend on financial and regulatory incentives, and harmonisation of health information and communication systems
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