title: A new paradigm for disease surveillance in Vietnam.
abstract: Medical surveillance data from all government health clinics in Vietnam are currently collected through a slow, paper-driven process. Short message service (SMS) technology delivered through mobile phones offers a simple solution to improving the speed through which disease surveillance information can be collected. Identifying health concerns earlier with this mobile-based disease surveillance system has the potential to improve the care for patients seen at community health clinics as well as predict more quickly that a medical emergency, such as a pandemic, will occur. Thus, we piloted the feasibility of an SMS-based disease surveillance system designed for healthcare workers in Vietnam to directly report disease information on diarrhea and influenza-like illness to a central data repository using their mobile phones and an intuitive, user-friendly platform. This article reports data from 1,579 patient data entries in 20 Vietnamese health clinics during a 6-month period.
authors.affiliation: 1 University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine , Biddeford, Maine.
authors.forename: Lindsay B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Katona
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.forename: Nguyen C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Vu
authors.forename: Cuong K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Linh T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Dang
authors.forename: Vu D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Thiem
authors.forename: Khanh C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Kyle G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Ratner
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Katona
mesh_terms: D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D040421:Cell Phone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D003906:Developing Countries; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020380:Needs Assessment; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014744:Vietnam