Surveillance

(ser-VAY-lents) In medicine, the ongoing collection of information about a disease, such as cancer, in a certain group of people. The information collected may include where the disease occurs in a population and whether it affects people of a certain gender, age, or ethnic group.

A process for ongoing monitoring of information (data) about a specific topic, problem, or disease (such as healthcare associated infections) where data is gathered, analyzed, and interpreted. Surveillance data are often used to identify areas for improvement, guide actions to improve the quality of healthcare delivery, and monitor whether those interventions result in better outcomes.

An ongoing, systematic process of collecting, analyzing and using data on specific health conditions and diseases (e.g., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance system for AIDS cases).

An observation procedure that includes tactical observations, strategic warning, and meteorological assessments, by optical, infrared, radar, and radiometric sensors on space-borne and terrestrial platforms.

The use of (usually) electronic means, passive or active, to obtain information about the nature, position, or movement of, e.g., aircraft (cooperative or non-cooperative, friendly or unfriendly), sources of electromagnetic emissions, etc. 2. Nonintrusive monitoring of digital signals in real time to recognize performance degradations and failures and system intrusion attempts. [After T1.231-1997]