title: Requirements and design of the PROSPER protocol for implementation of information infrastructures supporting pandemic response: a Nominal Group study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Advanced technical systems and analytic methods promise to provide policy makers with information to help them recognize the consequences of alternative courses of action during pandemics. Evaluations still show that response programs are insufficiently supported by information systems. This paper sets out to derive a protocol for implementation of integrated information infrastructures supporting regional and local pandemic response programs at the stage(s) when the outbreak no longer can be contained at its source.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nominal group methods for reaching consensus on complex problems were used to transform requirements data obtained from international experts into an implementation protocol. The analysis was performed in a cyclical process in which the experts first individually provided input to working documents and then discussed them in conferences calls. Argument-based representation in design patterns was used to define the protocol at technical, system, and pandemic evidence levels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Protocol for a Standardized information infrastructure for Pandemic and Emerging infectious disease Response (PROSPER) outlines the implementation of information infrastructure aligned with pandemic response programs. The protocol covers analyses of the community at risk, the response processes, and response impacts. For each of these, the protocol outlines the implementation of a supporting information infrastructure in hierarchical patterns ranging from technical components and system functions to pandemic evidence production.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The PROSPER protocol provides guidelines for implementation of an information infrastructure for pandemic response programs both in settings where sophisticated health information systems already are used and in developing communities where there is limited access to financial and technical resources. The protocol is based on a generic health service model and its functions are adjusted for community-level analyses of outbreak detection and progress, and response program effectiveness. Scientifically grounded reporting principles need to be established for interpretation of information derived from outbreak detection algorithms and predictive modeling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköpings universitet, Linköping, Sweden. toomas.timpka@liu.se
authors.forename: Toomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Timpka
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.forename: Elin A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Gursky
authors.forename: Magnus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Strömgren
authors.forename: Einar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Holm
authors.forename: Joakim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ekberg
authors.forename: Olle
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grimvall
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Valter
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Nyce
mesh_terms: D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006284:Health Plan Implementation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems; D051188:Knowledge Bases; D020380:Needs Assessment; D058873:Pandemics / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012015:Reference Standards