An Assessment of Overdose Surveillance at a Local Public Health Department

Mirroring public health response to infectious disease outbreaks, many public health departments are taking an outbreak management approach to respond to drug overdose surges 1-3. The Marion County Public Health Department (MCPHD) has developed an overdose response plan (ORP) integrating drug overdose surveillance and community stakeholder response strategies. Effective drug overdose surveillance requires accurate and reliable data streams. This work assessed data sources utilized for county overdose surveillance and provided recommendations to improve overdose surveillance.

Objective: To assess the data sources used to monitor overdose events in Marion County and improve community overdose surveillance.