Evaluation on Information Quality of Communicable Disease Epidemic Situation Report in 2004 in Shanxi Province

Objective This study was conducted to primarily evaluate the information quality of communicable disease epidemic situation report after implementing direct network report in Shanxi province，explore major factors influencing timeliness of report,and increase the timeliness，sensitivity and veracity of epidemic report．Methods The report cards of communicable disease class B and C of 2004 in Shanxi province were obtained through Disease Surveillance Data Report and Management System，the subsystem of Disease Prevention and Control Information System of China．All statistical analyses were performed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS software package version 12.0 for Windows．Results The direct report rate reached 90.97％ in hospitals at county or above levels in Shanxi province．The integrated hospitals were predominant in the report units，and accounted for 77.87％．There were only few unexamined and repeated cards all the year round．One month of zero report OC-curred in two counties respectively．The average time of communicable disease from diagnosis to re-port was 1.87 days，from report to examination 0.91 hours，from diagnosis to examination 2.63 days．The report time was 3.9 days shorter than that before implementation of direct network report system．Conclusion The time from diagnosis to report had a significant effect on the timeliness of report．There were differences in the examination quahty for communicable disease report cards among cities and counties in Shanxi；there is an emergent need for normative management of direct network report system；suggestions for the problems were proposed．