Wastewater Surveillance: Qualitative Findings for Clinicians

According to Emerging Infectious Diseases, a February–March 2024 EIN survey gathered 192 free-text clinician comments that describe how wastewater surveillance could affect clinical practice.

• Survey scope: In February–March 2024, the EIN survey was sent to 1, 809 members; 448 responded (25%), and 192 respondents provided free-text comments, per Emerging Infectious Diseases.
• Thematic weight: According to Emerging Infectious Diseases, 47% (n = 91) of free-text responses referenced situational awareness or early warning, 24% (n = 47) mentioned infection prevention and control, 15% (n = 29) diagnostic or differential diagnosis use, and 13% (n = 24) patient education.
• Adoption caveat: According to Emerging Infectious Diseases, many comments used conditional language (for example, "could" or "may"), indicating perceived potential rather than documented routine use.
• Next step: According to Emerging Infectious Diseases, respondents requested clearer timeliness, geographic specificity, and health department guidance to make WWS actionable in clinical settings.

A February–March 2024 EIN survey collected 192 free-text clinician comments describing how wastewater surveillance could affect clinical practice, according to Emerging Infectious Diseases.

According to Emerging Infectious Diseases, investigators distributed a 9-question online survey to 1, 809 EIN members, received 448 responses (25%), and analyzed 192 free-text submissions using inductive content analysis to generate themes.

According to Emerging Infectious Diseases, analysts coded responses iteratively, identified themes, and refined interpretations through team discussion; the analysis was intended for hypothesis generation and not to demonstrate widespread adoption.

Wastewater surveillance can inform situational awareness, infection prevention, diagnostics, and patient education, according to Emerging Infectious Diseases' analysis of clinician comments from February–March 2024.

According to Emerging Infectious Diseases, clinicians reported WWS can "identify outbreaks earlier" and can "act like a 'canary in a coal mine'" for community pathogen trends, which supports earlier alerting and preparedness in emergency departments and hospital systems.

According to Emerging Infectious Diseases, some clinicians said WWS gave evidence to encourage vaccination or prompt systemwide infection control reminders, yet several respondents also noted that clinical utility depends on rapid data turnaround, geographic specificity, and formal guidance from health departments.

According to Emerging Infectious Diseases, a minority of respondents said WWS had no current clinical impact and that broader adoption will require clearer pathways from surveillance data to clinical action.

The February–March 2024 EIN qualitative analysis reported in Emerging Infectious Diseases shows clinicians see potential value for wastewater surveillance in situational awareness, infection prevention, diagnostics, and patient education, but they also call for timeliness and clear public health guidance.

Turning those open-text perceptions into action requires rapid, auditable qualitative synthesis and clear pathways from surveillance data to clinical guidance.

Evidano helps teams convert clinician comments into ranked themes, codebooks, and shareable summaries so health systems and public health partners can pilot WWS-informed interventions.

To test this workflow on your WWS survey or clinician comments, Try Evidano for free.