Photo By Nell Moody | 250904-O-JO646-2232, September 4, 2025 -- The graphic illustrates ship based health...... read more read more
September 4, 2025 -- In a significant advancement for Navy public health, epidemiologists with the Navy and Marine Corps Force Health Protection Command (NMCFHPC) are revolutionizing how the fleet monitors illnesses at sea.
The initiative harnesses the power of a biosurveillance tool known as the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE), utilizing its electronic data collection and display capabilities to replace the manual process of collecting healthcare encounter data which often causes a delay in situational awareness. Recently, ESSENCE began receiving shipboard electronic clinical data feeds that were evaluated by NMCFHPC experts for fleet medical surveillance and decision making.
Initially, the epidemiology team looked at historical data they had on hand. They compared that data with current data in ESSENCE fed by fleet ships, and studied it to see if it was relevant and trustworthy. Once they understood the strengths and gaps, they established a process to ensure the data was useful and consistent. This enabled them to build a foundation to establish a system to monitor shipboard health issues.
For example, they explored ways to account for the small number of clinic visits that occur aboard ship as well as to account for varying ships’ crew sizes. They also evaluated different capabilities in ESSENCE, including one that could be utilized to create alerts when a statistically significant increase in cases occurred, and another to create dashboards to display disease trends.
“The capability to view operational data in this way is unprecedented and directly supports preventive medicine. Our staff not only responds to emerging threats but also analyzes long-term data which helps strengthen programs and shape policies,” said NMCFHPC epidemiologist Wendi Bowman, who worked on the shipboard ESSENCE initiative.
After deciding which outcomes to track, the epidemiology team reviewed the data and identified any discrepancies along with possible solutions. Over time, they noticed significant gaps in information. To address this, they investigated the root causes and adjusted their medical surveillance methods. Ultimately, they chose to reorganize the surveillance by disease category and track patient encounters that show trends over time.
“We took a two-pronged approach: analyzing the data while building the surveillance system within the existing framework so we could deliver results quickly,” Bowman explained.
To build the system the team focused on three main outcomes: all health encounters, gastrointestinal illness, and respiratory illness. For each ship, they created three data queries—one for each outcome—and built trend graphs to show patterns over time. Ultimately, this resulted in more than 600 queries and trend graphs across the Fleet.
“We were guided by recommendations from Navy preventive medicine professionals as well as our findings investigating the data,” said Bowman. “Gastrointestinal and respiratory illnesses were chosen as they are two of the most common types of outbreaks and may result in large numbers of sick personnel, whereas the category all health encounters was included to help users identify when there are gaps in the data.”
The NMCFHPC epidemiology team organized the ships based on four separate regions, because each region receives preventive medicine support from NMCFHPC subordinate commands known as Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Units (NEPMUs). The epidemiology team developed three dashboards – one for each outcome – for each NEPMU. Each dashboard contained the specific outcomes for all of the ships in that unit’s area of responsibility.
Dr. Lisa Pearse, a preventive medicine physician with the NMCFHPC, explained, "instead of learning about outbreaks after they’ve ended, we can now detect them in time to provide public health guidance. This greatly reduces the operational impact of disease. While our current focus is on common illnesses, this approach can also be expanded to monitor injuries, mental health, and other non-battle medical injuries."
Ultimately, the team built new dashboards that make it much easier to detect outbreaks on ships at sea, and to determine whether that outbreak picture is accurate. This new visibility enables preventive medicine personnel to identify possible outbreaks early, and to then take actions to mitigate the impact of those outbreaks. Flexibility is also now built into the shipboard ESSENCE system, to allow new dashboards to be built for potential future outcomes that impact the Fleet.
“This project worked because we had leaders with a clear and shared vision, and a team with analytical and creative thinking skills,” said Bowman. “That focus helped us deliver surveillance tools directly to the people who need them.”
By connecting shipboard medical data into ESSENCE, that clinical data now feeds into the Medical Common Operating Picture, or MedCOP—a Department of War platform that gives commanders across services a clear picture of health threats in near real time. Lessons learned from the NMCFHPC team’s shipboard ESSENCE innovations are already improving MedCOP’s dashboards and alerts, ensuring ship-level insights are reflected in theater and strategic level decision-making.
Navy and Marine Corps public health and preventive medicine personnel play a critical role in protecting the health and readiness of deployed forces. Through expeditionary units such as the FDPMU, NEPMUs, and Fleet and Fleet Marine Force preventive medicine personnel, these Sailors provide rapid, flexible, and scalable health protection capabilities. From identifying environmental and occupational health hazards to advising commanders on risk mitigation, their mission is to ensure operational forces remain medically ready and mission capable—anytime, anywhere.
| Date Taken: | 09.15.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.15.2025 08:46 |
| Story ID: | 547623 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 73 |
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