Communication Between Infectious Disease Physicians and US State and Local Public Health Agencies

Abstract

Strong working relationships between infectious disease (ID) physicians and public health have resulted in the early detection of emerging infectious threats. From May 6 through June 5, 2015, we surveyed ID physicians in the Infectious Diseases Society of America's Emerging Infections Network about communications with public health. A total of 688 of 1491 (46%) members completed the survey, 624 (91%) of whom knew how to reach their health department directly for an urgent issue. Only 38 (6%) described communications with their health department as poor. Interest in newer technologies (eg, mobile smartphone applications) showed mixed results. Interest in a smartphone application differed significantly by years of ID experience, with 81 of 146 (55%) respondents with <5 years of ID experience, 172 of 359 (48%) respondents with 5 to 24 years of ID experience, and 61 of 183 (33%) respondents with ≥25 years of ID experience in favor of a smartphone application ( < .001). As more physicians adopt newer communication technologies, health departments should be prepared to incorporate these tools to communicate with ID physicians.