VNEEN! O !HE PRACTICE
BUILDING CAPACITY
Everyone’s Data Are Special—Or Are They?
Tim Callahan, MPH
lect and use should be like the science we use, and should not be influenced by the personali- ties, policies, and practices of each agency. Science at Its Center Consider what makes up the basic work we record every day. We capture the location, date, time, type of service performed, and observed measurements. While that is an oversimplification, when we examine these pieces we do see potential items that could be standardized to allow for several benefits without having to change rules or having identical policies or practices. Some examples of these benefits are: • Ease of sharing data to compare: » Policy impacts » Best practices » Results of changes in workload • Substantial decreases in the cost to set up or change data systems • An increase in reliable research to help pre- vent illness • Identification of eciencies or ways to support prioritizing eorts when resources are slim • Ability to define the return on investment made into environmental health operations • Incorporation of environmental health fac- tors used in local medical decisions to sup- port systems • Reliable and valid data-centered storytell- ing to inform constituents and partners These benefits require that the data we col- lect every day fit a structure that allows it to move. If you have ever moved your house- hold, you will be familiar with the benefits of knowing the size and shape of the boxes and the weight of their contents. Data stan-
Editor’s Note: A need exists within environmental health agencies to increase their capacity to perform in an environment of diminishing resources. With limited resources and increasing demands, we need to seek new approaches to the practice of environmental health. Acutely aware of these challenges, the Journal publishes the Building Capacity column to educate, reinforce, and build on successes within the profession using technology to improve eciency and extend the impact of environmental health agencies. This column is authored by technical advisors of the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) Data and Technology Section, as well as guest authors. The conclusions of this column are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of NEHA. Tim Callahan is a technical advisor of the NEHA Data and Technology Section. He is the director of the Evaluation and Support Program within the Environmental Health Section of the Georgia Department of Public Health.
E nvironmental health data systems and structures are more confound- ingly diverse than even the variety of food inspection rules in place across the U.S. This situation is primarily due to the environmental health profession not evolv- ing as many other public health operations have over the past years. Chronic and com- municable diseases and other programs were developed out of national assessments or outbreaks where federal resources and re- quirements were formative to the creation of relatively uniform state and local operations. Conversely, environmental health started with cholera in a well here, malaria there, a community wanting safer food, or similar local concern to improve the quality of life and the longevity of the public.
This local, organic germination and matur- ing process is why environmental health is profoundly local, as often said by Dr. David Dyjack, executive director of the National Environmental Health Association. With over 2,800 public health operations in the U.S., there are just as many independent ways to collect, store, and analyze data collected. Another great supporter of our profession, Darryl Booth, general manager of environ- mental health at Accela, says something very similar: “If you have seen one health depart- ment, you have seen one health department.” Booth is in the data management industry and has seen enough environmental health opera- tions to know that each is as unique as its sta. The science that drives our work, however, is no dierent across agencies. The data we col-
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Volume 86 • Number 3
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