The existing New York State Department of Health emergency department syndromic surveillance system has used patientâs chief complaint (CC) for assigning to six syndrome categories (Respiratory, Fever, Gastrointestinal, Neurological, Rash, Asthma). The sensitivity and specificity of the CC computer algorithms that assign CC to syndrome categories are determined by using chart review as the criterion standard. These analyses are used to refine the algorithm and to evaluate the effect of changes in the syndrome definitions.
