1. Reaching New and Existing Stakeholders to Participate in BioSense Real Time Real Talk (RTRT)
- Congress passed the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, which requires specific activities related to bioterrorism preparedness and response. This congressional mandate outlines the need for improving the overall public’s health through electronic surveillance and led to the creation of the BioSense program.
- BioSense is the national, human health surveillance system designed to improve the nation’s capabilities for disease detection, monitoring, and real-time health situational awareness. This work is made possible by providing public health access to existing data from healthcare organizations, state syndromic surveillance systems, national laboratories, and others for timely public health decision-making.
- BioSense data are analyzed through advanced statistical methods, and made accessible through the BioSense application. The application provides data, charts, graphs, and maps through a secure web-based interface which can be accessed by CDC and authorized state and local public health and hospital users.
- In order to meet the congressional mandate, it is important that BioSense partners and stakeholders are kept abreast of updates to the BioSense application and the ways in which this new technology will impact the investigation or monitoring of any potential disease outbreaks or bioterrorist attacks.
- Real Time Real Talk quarterly teleconference calls were created to be a forum for CDC to answer questions and provide updates about BioSense.
Sharon Wong, SRA International
Marella Bradway, SRA International
Lazenia Harris, CDC

2. Overview Objectives Methodology Audience Assessment Questions
Limitations
Findings
Discussion

3. Objectives of Needs Assessment
Obtain feedback from BioSense partners and stakeholders on RTRT’s content and format
Obtain ideas for enhancements and improvements to RTRT

4. Occupational Background
Methodology
Phone interviews were conducted with BioSense stakeholders who are members of the RTRT target audience:
Occupational Background
# Participants
Public Health Departments 5
Hospitals 2
Professional Associations
CDC DISSS 3
DISSS = Division of Integrated Surveillance Systems & Services
- OMB regulations concern any data collection with 10 or more non-federal employees, so we stated under than number.

5. Methodology Interview sample included:
Stakeholders who had attended RTRT: We wanted to obtain feedback about RTRT’s value
Stakeholders who had not attended RTRT: We wanted to obtain feedback on how to attract those who have not yet attended

6. Audience 9 non-Federal and 3 CDC participants were interviewed
Participants with broad occupational backgrounds and varying levels of attendance at past RTRT calls
Participation in interviews was voluntary with no incentives
All 12 participants contacted agreed to participate

7. For Past RTRT Attendees
Questions Examined
For Past RTRT Attendees
What were reasons for attending RTRT?
What were impressions of RTRT?
Has RTRT provided information about BioSense updates?
Has RTRT provided the opportunity to ask questions about BioSense?

8. Questions Examined cont’d…
For All Participants
Where do stakeholders go with questions about BioSense?
What delivery methods are preferred for BioSense updates?
How can open dialogue be encouraged for RTRT?
What kinds of speakers should be featured on RTRT?
What kinds of topics should be featured on RTRT?
How should RTRT be publicized and promoted?

9. Limitations
Qualitative research is exploratory and is used to gain insight into a variety of ideas, opinions, and feedback from members of target audiences
The findings are not meant to be a statistical representation of the attitudes of the target populations

10. # RTRT Conference Calls Attended Self-Confirmed Attendance
Findings
# RTRT Conference Calls Attended
# Participants –
Tracked Attendance
Self-Confirmed Attendance
n=6
n=8 1
n=4
n =3 2
n =1
n=0 4
n=1
RTRT Past Attendance in Interview Sample
RTRT attendance is tracked when callers leave their names during the sign-in portion of the call. While the interview sample was chosen to include 6 participants who had attended RTRT, just 4 of these participants recalled attending RTRT when queried during the interview.
Only participants who confirmed having attended RTRT (n=4) were asked questions about their impressions of RTRT, while all participants (n=12) were asked questions about future possibilities for RTRT and BioSense communications.

11. Question 1 What were Reasons for Attending RTRT?
Participate answers:
Agenda contained an item of interest
Interest in hearing BioSense updates
Available at scheduled time
Desire to ask questions about BioSense

12. Question 2 What were Impressions of RTRT?
All participants said RTRT was informative. Individuals added:
The question and answer session was helpful
It contained useful information about policy and operations issues
The presentation stayed on time
A participant said, “It was a lot of fun. I learned a lot about the ways BioSense is being used.”

13. Question 3 Has RTRT provided information about BioSense updates?
All participants agreed that RTRT provided information about BioSense updates

14. Question 4 Has RTRT provided the opportunity to ask questions about BioSense?
Most participants agreed that RTRT provided the opportunity to ask questions
One participant had questions during RTRT, but was not able to ask them in the time allotted

15. Question 5 Where do stakeholders go with questions about BioSense?
BioSense Staff, especially members of the BIC
CDC or BioSense webpages
Internal colleagues
The BIC: Bio Intelligence Center

16. Question 6 What delivery methods are preferred for BioSense updates?
Most preferred to receive BioSense updates by from the listserv
Some preferred to consult the BioSense website
Some requested updates in a webinar format

17. Question 7 How can open dialogue be encouraged for RTRT?
Submit a question via before the call
Submit a question via during the call
Submit a question verbally during the call
Submit a question anonymously via the BioSense webpage or through a webinar
Individual participants suggested “live meeting” or “instant messenger” for submitting questions

18. Radio Interview Format
Most participants agreed that this was a promising idea if it was implemented in a smooth, experienced and professional manner
The responsibility would be borne by the meeting facilitator
Radio Interview Format = Interview of a guest followed by questions from the audience; like “Larry King Live”

19. Question 8 What kinds of speakers should be featured on RTRT?
State PH
County PH
Hospitals
Funded partners
VA & DoD
Professional Associations
Members of the BIC
Those who set up BioSense technology at hospitals

20. Question 9 What kinds of topics should be featured on RTRT?
Success stories
Updates
Training opportunities
Issues with the application
Collaborations
Commonly cited

21. Other Topics
National integration of BioSense with other CDC surveillance systems
Future plans
Data quality, processing and analysis
Policy
BioSense 101 for new users
MOUs between CDC and Homeland Security
How data is used and by whom in Federal agencies
BioSense user protocols
Individually cited
- BioSense user protocols (e.g., response to anomalies, information sharing with hospitals)

22. Other Topics Cont’d… Lessons learned Value of syndromic surveillance
Value of aggregated data
Most efficient ways to bring in data streams
Non-technical overview of hospital providers’ participation with BioSense
Participation in BioSense from beginning stages
CDC’s use of BioSense data
Public health’s use of BioSense in decision making
- Lessons learned (e.g., Chicago drill that spiked an anomaly, CA wildfires)
- Participation in BioSense from beginning stages (e.g., collection of raw data)

23. Question 10 How should RTRT be publicized and promoted?
All participants agreed that an from the list-serv is the preferred method

24. Discussion
Three out of four respondents indicated that there were one or more colleagues with them in the room during RTRT calls
Therefore, tracked attendance of RTRT is likely an under-representation of the actual number of people listening in on the call
We wondered whether our tracking of attendance was accurate

25. Discussion
Participants noted the benefits in providing a RTRT agenda ahead of the conference call:
Informs the decision of whether to attend
Allows the ability to prepare questions

26. Discussion
Changing RTRT into a webinar would provide the added capabilities of:
Supplying visuals to enhance the oral presentations
Easily creating an archived file of the presentations

27. Thank you Sharon Wong, SRA International
Marella Bradway, SRA International
Lazenia Harris, CDC