142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Using syndromic surveillance data for injury surveillance and research: The NC DETECT experience

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 : 3:10 PM - 3:30 PM

Anna E. Waller, ScD , Department of Emergency Medicine, Carolina Center for Health Informatics, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Chapel Hil, NC
Amy Ising, MSIS , Department of Emergency Medicine, Carolina Center for Health Informatics, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Katie J. Harmon, MSPH , Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Steve W. Marshall, PhD , Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Scott Proescholdbell, MPH , Injury and Violence Prevention Branch, Chronic Disease and Injury Section, N.C. Division of Public Health, Raleigh, NC
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Background/Purpose:  Syndromic surveillance systems provide timely data for identifying and monitoring emerging and existing public health threats.  NC DETECT is a syndromic surveillance system incorporating data from multiple sources.  Authorized users in NC health departments and hospitals can create and access reports on infectious and chronic diseases, and injury. Data can also be requested for research and evaluation.  Injury prevention researchers and practitioners are a major NC DETECT user group.

 Methods:  ED visit data are the most widely used data source in NC DETECT.  Many real-time injury reports have been established, including reports addressing prescription drug overdoses, extreme weather related injury, animal bites, and injuries due to self-harm.  These reports are available to users in real-time.  NC’s Injury and Violence Prevention Branch works closely with the University of North Carolina’s Carolina Center for Health Informatics and Injury Prevention Research Center to develop fact sheets, brief reports, and peer-reviewed publications addressing injury in NC.

 Results:  Recent injury fact sheets include Traumatic Brain Injury, Animal Bites, Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes, Assault, and Falls.  Recent injury research projects utilizing data from NC DETECT include injuries to pedestrians, methods of identifying child maltreatment in the ED, identifying farm injury treated in the ED, motorcycle crashes and TBI, EMS and pediatric trauma, ambient temperature and heat related illness, and evaluation of the ISW-7 poisoning matrix.  An annual report addressing the completeness of E-coding in the ED visit data is also available.   

 Conclusions:  NC DETECT provides timely, population-based data for injury surveillance and research.

Learning Areas:

Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Define "syndromic surveillance data" Describe how syndromic surveillance data are used in North Carolina for injury surveillance and research Compare the benefits of syndromic surveillance data to traditional secondary data sources for injury surveillance

Keyword(s): Data Collection and Surveillance, Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been involved in the design, development and use of NC DETECT, as the principle investigator, since 2000. I have been involved in injury control research and injury surveillance for over 30 years. I work closely with epidemiologists at the state and local public health departments and the UNC School of Public Health to use NC DETECT data for injury surveillance and research.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4332.0: Injury and emergency health data issues: Injury data, electronic health records, and external cause of injury