Thread: Sentinel Surveillance

Sentinel Surveillance


Sentinel surveillance is the collection and analysis of data by designated institutions selected for their geographic location, medical specialty, and ability to accurately diagnose and report high quality data. For example, district hospitals may be required to report specific conditions such as bacterial meningitis in order to quantify the burden of disease due to Haemophilus influenzae type b. Generally, sentinel surveillance is useful for answering specific epidemiologic questions, but, because sentinel sites may not represent the general population or the general incidence of disease, they may have limited usefulness in analyzing national disease patterns and trends.


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[HIDE]http://www.cdc.gov/drspsurveillancetoolkit/docs/SENTINELMETHOD.pdf[/HIDE]

Sentinel Surveillance Method Overview



System Definition

Limited case ascertainment area
Surveillance network comprised of selected hospitals and laboratories out of all possible hospitals/laboratories in surveillance area
Traditionally includes largest hospitals in geographic area
Should do pre-evaluation to select appropriate sentinel sit

Key Advantages

Can easily collect individual patient-related data
Less costly and burdensome on resources
Flexible system design
Useful for documenting trends
Allows for routine monitoring of antibiotic non-susceptibility

Key Disadvantages

Although less costly than population-based surveillance, sentinel system may still require significant financial investments in personnel and resources
Data may have biased or skewed findings
Data is not generalizable to geographic population
This method does not
collect incidence data

is it has a relation to financial abilities?
is it performed in developing countries or it is a feature of developed countries?

Originally Posted by hoss

is it performed in developing countries or it is a feature of developed countries?

India is a developing country and it's done in india.