NSS-SI

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Project description

Background

The NSS-SI project plans to establish an electronic national surveillance system for communicable diseases and their causative agents in Slovenia. We will replace the existing system, which is based on paper registrations. We will enable healthcare providers and microbiology laboratories to report communicable diseases and their causing agents electronically to the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) in real time through the Central Registry of Patient Data (CRPD) within eHealth (eZdravje) infrastructure.

Purpose of the project

The clinical, laboratory and epidemiological data provided will be integrated in national databases at the NIJZ. To this end, an eEPI information system will be developed to enable electronic data management, rapid data analysis and the detection of clusters of communicable disease cases and outbreaks. This will provide the epidemiological service of the NIJZ with the necessary data for the management of communicable disease cases and their contacts, and for the control and rapid response to the accumulation of cases and outbreaks of communicable diseases. eEPI will also serve as a source of data on communicable diseases and their causative agents for national surveillance systems and the provision of data to other stakeholders, including European communicable disease surveillance systems, in line with the requirements of European legislation.

Project objectives

The planned activities of the NSS-SI to achieve the main objectives of the project are divided into the following:

1. Development of infrastructure:

Within the NSS-SI project, we will continue to develop infrastructure and IT solutions that will enable healthcare providers to report communicable diseases electronically via the CRPD to the NIJZ. We will also develop the infrastructure to enable microbiology laboratories to transmit microbiological test results of reportable communicable agents in a structured electronic format via the CRPD to the NIJZ. In addition, the development of the infrastructure will include the development of a national eEPI informational system for communicable disease surveillance, which aims to integrate data from different sources, including clinical, microbiological and epidemiological data. The information system will also include the use of aggregated and anonymised data on communicable disease treatments already collected in the CRPD.

2. Capacity building

The launch of the eEPI information system will be accompanied by educational activities and training on the effective use of all functionalities of the new data management information solution, which will be designed to monitor communicable diseases and provide data relevant for responding to and managing communicable disease outbreaks.

3. Pilot testing, execution, implementation

The eEPI information system will first be pilot-tested in some of the regional units of the NIJZ, and then introduced for regular use in all nine regional units and the Communicable Diseases Centre. During the pilot phase and prior to the start of regular use, the eEPI system will be thoroughly tested with particular emphasis on reliability, accuracy and security. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) will also be carried out to verify the relevance of the eEPI system to users’ needs. In the event of any perceived shortcomings of the system, appropriate adjustments will be made.

Phases of the project (Work Packages)

• WP 1: Coordination, evaluation and dissemination of project results;
• WP 2: Extension of the national CRPD to record data on communicable diseases and their causative agents to establish a secure flow of data in a structured electronic format within the eHealth infrastructure from different sources in real time (healthcare providers, microbiology laboratories, reports of deaths due to communicable diseases, etc.);
• WP 3: Requirements analysis and design phase of the eEPI information system for the digitalization of national communicable diseases surveillance and response;
• WP 4: Development of the eEPI information system and basic functionalities of the application for communicable disease surveillance and response activities of the epidemiological service;
• WP 5: Maintenance of the information system and basic functionalities of the eEPI application.

NIJZ is the main coordinator for all work packages, while other project partners are also involved in work packages 2 and 3.

Added value

The infrastructure and IT solutions developed under the NSS-SI project will enable healthcare providers and microbiology laboratories to report communicable diseases and their causative agents electronically via the CRPD to the NIJZ. This will reduce the administrative burden for reporters and allow timely submission of data. The eEPI information system will provide the epidemiological service of the NIJZ with the necessary infrastructure for effective communicable disease surveillance, which is the basis for the control of communicable disease cases and outbreaks. By providing near-instant access to high-quality data on communicable diseases and their causative agents, it will enable rapid detection of outbreaks and identification of serious health threats. This will make it easier to monitor the incidence of certain communicable diseases in Slovenia, to take public health measures based on this data, and to assess their effectiveness. The system will also provide timely and comparable data to stakeholders at national and European level, improving the country’s preparedness for future health crises. This will strengthen Slovenia’s protection of its population against serious health threats and contribute to better preparedness and security across the European Union.

Expected results and materials

A key outcome of the NSS-SI project will be the development of a digitalized national communicable disease surveillance system that will draw data from different sources (clinics, microbiology laboratories, notifications of deaths due to communicable diseases, etc.) and an eEPI application that will allow the integration of the data generated, their management, analysis and dissemination to different stakeholders.

As part of the development of the information system, a protocol with a single national data model for reporting communicable pathogens from microbiology laboratories will be developed. In the course of the extension of the national digital health infrastructure (CRPD), the functional specifications of all established enhancements and extensions will be mapped, including the collection of anonymised data on communicable disease treatments for secondary use. An IT solution for the electronic reporting of communicable diseases by healthcare providers will also be developed separately and integrated into the eHealth system, which can be used independently without local health information systems.

As part of the development of the eEPI application, documentation will be produced covering the functional requirements of the application, the system design, the technical architecture and the user experience (UX) design, including any updates to these requirements and changes to the design as it evolves. User manuals, an evaluation report on user education and training, final documentation on the deployment of the application and a maintenance plan for the eEPI application will be produced.

The NSS-SI project will also develop protocols with data models and code lists, and analyse the processes and define the functional requirements needed to adapt local hospital information systems to a single national data model for effective surveillance of selected communicable diseases in hospitals. We will also explore the possibility of integrating functional forms for data collection for selected communicable diseases in hospitals.

Duration of the project: 1st of October 2024 till 30th of September 2029

Leading organization: National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ)

Project partners: National Laboratory of Health, Environment and Food (NLZOH), Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana (IMI), University Medical Centre Ljubljana (UKCL), University Medical Centre Maribor (UKCM), Celje General Hospital (SBC).

Funding

European Commission, European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) under the Grant Nr. 101182971.

Disclaimer

Funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the European Union or the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Neither the European Union nor the body that co-finances the action can be held responsible for them.