The Study Of System Theory Applied In Epidemiological Surveillance

Objectives: To understand the concept of epidemiological surveillance(ES). To investigate the character, structure, function and practice process of the epidemiological surveillance system (ESS). To provide material for founding or completing the theory of ES and provide the theory for guiding the practice of ES scientifically.Methods: (1)The methods in logic of defining and dividing a concept were used to study the concept of ES.(2)Character inference of deductive inference and incomplete inductive inference in logic were used to deduce the characters of ESS.(3)The principle and method of system theory were used to study this system's structure and function.(4)System engineering was used to research the practice process of ES.Results: (1)The concept of ES was to prevent and control the disease, improve the health and protect the living environment, which we collected the data of the dynamic distribution and influencing factors about some public health problem in a certain domain chronically consecutively and exactly, after treating analyzing and explaining, transferred and feedbacked the information timely, to provide the scientific and effective basis for making corresponding strategy and measure or evaluating their effects. It included the surveillances of human health condition, public health emergency, human living environment, influencing factors of human health and also the effects of strategy and measure.(2)The characters of ESS were found to be as follows: importance, necessity, entirety, plurality, dependence, purposiveness, designability, on level, chronicity, succession, pursuit, productbility, practicability, legislation, enforceability, dynamic adaptability and balance, and so on.(3)ESS contained four daughter systems.â‘ Organize and managerial system included the levels of decision management accomplishment and service, which provided the frame for this system.â‘¡Information system included the management people, message source, message processor and the users, which provided the basis for the management to make decision.â‘¢Surveillance program was the key of the system, which was the guide and standard of the practice.â‘£Ensure system was the department to ensure the system in each side. These four daughter systems connected closely and interacted, which made the whole system having the function of producing surveillance information.(4)The practice of ES included these processes, which were demand analysis, system analysis, system design, systems implementation, system evaluation and system perfection, which was an ordered project.Conclusion: This research defined the concept of ES, which resolved the problem of confused concept. The results of the character, structure, function and practice process of ESS embodied the flexible use of system theory in ESS.