Assessing the Public Health System in Delaware
Assessment Results
Essential Public Health Service #2:
Investigate and Diagnose Health Problems and Health Hazards
On April 19, 2006, an Assessment Team including representatives from hospitals, industry, Department of Agriculture, DNREC, education, legislature, the Delaware Health Care Commission, and Division of Public Health (DPH) assessed how the public health system performs Essential Service #2: Investigate and Diagnose Health Problems and Health Hazards. This service includes investigation of disease outbreaks, patterns of chronic disease, and rapid laboratory screening.
The Assessment Team looked at four activity categories including:
- planning and implementation;
- technical assistance and support;
- evaluation and quality improvement; and
- resources.
Delaware scored highest in planning/implementation and resources. Specifically, Delaware:
- operates a reporting system to identify potential threats to public health;
- collaborates with laboratories with capacity to analyze specimens;
- reviews public health emergency response plans periodically; and
- uses laboratories and epidemiologic expertise to identify and analyze public health threats and gaps.
The assessment identified gaps in technical assistance/support and evaluation/quality improvement. Gaps included:
- limited assistance to state partners in interpreting epidemiologic findings;
- limited provision of trained personnel to assist communities with investigations; and
- limited sharing of state-wide resources to diagnose and investigate health hazards.
Evaluation of the Assessment Process:
Members of the Assessment Team felt the assessment offered a good opportunity to meet with other partners who work within the scope of this essential service. One oft cited comment was there was not enough time to cover all of the questions properly and some questions were open to interpretation.
Next Steps:
Most participants suggested convening work groups/committees of system partners to help prioritize improvement areas and develop action plans to address gaps in the system. Table #3 provides the scores from the assessment and may be used to help set priorities. Comments captured during the assessment process will be e-mailed within the next few weeks.
