A focus group study of enteric disease case investigation: successful techniques utilized and barriers experienced from the perspective of expert disease investigators

摘要

BackgroundIn Ontario, Canada, enteric case investigators perform a number of functions when conducting telephone interviews including providing health education, collecting data for regulatory purposes ultimately to prevent further illness, enforcement, illness source attribution and outbreak detection. Information collected must be of high quality as it may be used to inform decisions about public health actions that could have significant consequences such as excluding a person from work, recalling a food item that is deemed to be a health hazard, and/or litigations. The purpose of this study was to describe, from the perspectives of expert investigators, barriers experienced and the techniques used to overcome these barriers during investigation of enteric disease cases.