Assessing the Work Practices and Information Needs of Disease Investigators

Methods We used mixed methods to identify common high-level themes and low-level data elements required during disease investigation. We first studied disease investigation protocols and contact investigation data forms from 31 jurisdictions in the context of tuberculosis case investigations. To provide further insight into the disease investigation process, we conducted qualitative research with a public health department to identify work practices, protocols, paper forms, electronic tools, visualizations, and information needs encountered during case and outbreak investigations. This research consisted of two focus groups with different divisions of a public health department, attendance of daily meetings, and participant observation of investigators, nurses, and epidemiologists in the Communicable Disease Section.