Online Environmental Health Concern Submission Site

Summary

Impact Statement:

Deschutes County Health Services (DCHS) in Central Oregon is now able to provide more efficient preventive strategies for the county through creating and implementing an online process for reporting foodborne illness, restaurant complaints, hotel and motel complaints, pool and spa complaints, and other related health issues. This QI initiative not only made it easier for the public to report timely concerns, but it also enabled DCHS staff to better evaluate and assess the data they received and improve the reporting mechanism for evaluation and assessment.

Summary:

In June 2015, DCHS launched an online submission site for environmental health (EH) concerns in order to increase the ways through which the public can submit these concerns to the health department and to help health department staff respond to concerns in priority order. The site launch was followed by an information dissemination effort to inform the public about the site. By January 1, 2016, 10% of all EH concerns submitted to the health department will be through this site.

Organization that conducted the QI initiative:

DCHS

Citation:

Lindsay, C. Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange. Online Environmental Health Concern Submission Site. Wed, 03/09/2016 - 11:19. Available at http://phqix.org/content/online-environmental-health-concern-submission-site. Accessed April 19, 2024.

Background and Aim

Aim statement:

By January 1, 2016, at least 10% of the EH concerns submitted by the public will be made through the online submission site each month.

Need For The QI Initiative:

This project was determined important during a brainstorming meeting with the communicable disease (CD) supervisor, EH supervisor, and systems performance program staff. Potential solutions were determined via root cause analysis. The solution was twofold: (1) create an online system that the public can use to report EH concerns, such as restaurant complaints, hotel and motel complaints, pool and spa complaints, and other incidents; and (2) launch an information dissemination campaign to alert the public to this resource.

Area for Improvement:

The DCHS Public Health Division does not have an online system that community members can use to report incidence of public health concerns. This could deter some individuals from reporting public health issues, and it limits the ways individuals can contact the health department. In addition, a consistent way to track the number of concerns submitted to the health department does not exist. Only 35, 245, and 328 reports were tracked each year from 2012 to 2014, consecutively. In the 3 months before the concern submission site was launched, from April to June, an average of 33 concerns were submitted each month. This may not constitute all of the concerns that the public should be submitting to the health department. Communication with the public is crucial for EH, where foodborne illness and unsanitary restaurant conditions are often brought to light when the public and providers contact the health department. If public concerns are not reported, DCHS EH staff are less able to identify potential outbreaks and learn about possible problems in food preparation, production, and distribution that may cause illness.

Root Cause:

Root cause analysis demonstrated that there may not be adequate venues through which the public can submit EH concerns, and the public may not know how to submit EH concerns. Using older systems, such as phone calls and in-person concern submissions, may deter some people from contacting the health department. The online submission site also provides a direct way for the public to contact EH staff to report a concern without waiting on hold or moving through the automated phone handling system. In addition, the site allows concerns submitted via that method to be prioritized based on urgency. To ensure that the public was aware of the site, an information dissemination effort began soon after the site launched.

Planning and Execution Details

QI Implementation:

1. Meet to brainstorm need and launch the QI initiative. 2. Perform a root cause analysis. 3. Create and launch an online platform for the public to access and use to report public health concerns: http://www.deschutes.org/healthconcern. 4. Hold an information dissemination campaign. Part 1 included a news release and information posted to Twitter and Facebook. 5. Hold an information dissemination campaign. Part 2 included distribution of posters and business cards to health services locations and in the community. 6. Monitor data trends to determine opportunities for continual QI. The initial project was determined via a multi-program brainstorming session. Goals for the project were created as a joint QI initiative with the EH and CD programs. It was later determined that the project should be separated into two QI initiatives. The goals, root causes, and deadlines were then adjusted for each project. One of the original concerns was the potential lack of EH concern reporting by the public, especially for restaurant complaints. Potential root causes include there being only one way to submit an EH concern (via phone or in person) and that the phone tree contained inaccurate information. For these reasons, people may give up on contacting the health department. Another root cause was that information about how to submit EH concerns was not readily available to the public. In addition, there was no way for staff to prioritize responses. Although all root causes were addressed in 2015, two were chosen as directions to take for this project. Those selected were (1) there is only one way to submit concerns, and (2) information about how to submit concerns is not readily available to the public. The solutions included creation of an online site that the public could use to submit EH concerns, as well as an information dissemination campaign to educate the public about the concern submission site and the type of concerns to submit. Another root cause was staff inability to prioritize responses to public concerns. Although this was not solved during this project, EH concerns submitted online are added to a database, where staff can prioritize them based on urgency. Thus, prioritization of some, if not all, EH concerns was possible after the site launched.

Focus activities

Data collection, Epidemiology and Surveillance:

Environmental health

Foodborne illness

Reportable diseases

Other Environmental Health Services:

Animal control

Food borne illness investigation

Food safety education

Administration:

Capacity Development

Customer Service/satisfaction

Data collection and management/Information Technology

Innovation

Organizational effectiveness

Performance Management

Quality Improvement and Accreditation Readiness

Other QI Focus Activities:

CD and EH response, public education, and tracking

QI Methods:

PDCA/PDSA Cycle (Plan, Do, Check/Study, Act)

QI Tools:

Root cause analysis

Surveys

QI Tool Documentation:

Progress review (first 3 months)

Root cause analysis

Post-implementation results and survey

Information dissemination poster

Information dissemination cards

Initiative Dates:

1/26/15 to 12/31/15

Initiative Duration:

Between 6-12 months

Methods of evaluation:

After launching the online submission site, monthly reports were generated to determine an opportunity for continual QI. After January 1, 2016, these reports decreased in frequency to quarterly. These reports indicated the number of concerns submitted to the online site versus through other means, the type of concerns submitted to the online site, and the time taken to follow up on submissions to the online site. Information from the site could easily be exported into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for quantitative analysis. In addition, staff used an Excel tracking tool to record the number of concerns submitted via other avenues.

Results

Information about the Community

Information about the Health Department

QI Staff Information

Accreditation Details

Contact Information of the Submitter

Submission Status:

Completed

Comments

Excellent story. Thank you

Excellent story. Thank you for writing this up as a PHQIX submission.

I recently attended the Kansas Association of Local Health Departments Mid-Year conference. The conference concluded with a full-day workshop focused on ingegrating Environmental Health into CHA/CHIP processes. The issue of "responding to calls about environmental health concerns from the public" came up frequently.

Most of the LHD practitioners responding to these calls are health directors from small towns, and they wear many hats in their agency and community. An online system for the public to submit non-emergency environmental concerns could be very helpful for them. I look forward to sharing your idea with LHDs in Kansas.

Ty Kane

I am intrigued by your

I am intrigued by your initiative. We do not have an online submission process form Environmental Health complaints, thought our State Health Dept does. I am curious if there is a difference in the types and validity of the complaints submitted online vs by phone or in person. Did you look at that?

Marilyn Tapia

Thanks for your question!

We run quarterly reports on the type of calls received and the reports submitted online. Although multiple types of entries can be made on the online site, we predominately receive entries about restaurant complaints and foodborne illness. That said, we have received other concerns from the public on the online site including questions about diseases, pool/spa complaints, bed bugs, and water problems.

The calls we receive are far more diverse, with topics ranging from allergens, to neighborhood pet, and people asking for directions. Most of the calls made to the health department fall under the other/ miscellaneous category. We also receive many restaurant complaints; however, it is the third largest category as opposed to the largest.

Does this help? Please let me know if you would like additional clarification!

Channa Lindsay

Online Environmental Health Concern Submission Site

Summary

Background and Aim

Planning and Execution Details

Results

Information about the Community

Information about the Health Department

QI Staff Information

Accreditation Details

Contact Information of the Submitter

Comments

Excellent story. Thank you

I am intrigued by your

Thanks for your question!

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Online Environmental Health Concern Submission Site

Summary

Background and Aim

Planning and Execution Details

Results

Information about the Community

Information about the Health Department

QI Staff Information

Accreditation Details

Contact Information of the Submitter

Comments

QI Spotlight