Communication Between Infectious Disease Physicians and US State and Local Public Health Agencies: Strengths, Challenges, and Opportunities

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 8 I of 146 (55%) respondents with <5 years of ID experience, 172 of 359 (48%) respondents with 5 to 24 years of ID experience, and 6 I of 183 (33%) respondents with >25 years of ID experience in favor of a smartphone application (P<.001). As more physicians adopt newer communication technologies, health departments should be prepared to incorporate these tools to communicate with ID physicians.