Skip to main content

Rock Peter

Description

As a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance (ESOOS) funded state, Kentucky started utilizing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) data to increase timeliness of state data on drug overdose events in late 2016. Using developed definitions of heroin overdose for EMS emergency runs, Kentucky analyzed the patterns of refused/transported EMS runs for both statewide and local jurisdictions. Changes in EMS transportation patterns of heroin overdoses can have a dramatic impact on other surveillance systems, such as emergency department (ED) claims data or syndromic surveillance (SyS) data.

Objective: The aim of this project was to explore changing patterns in patient refusal to transport by emergency medical services for classified heroin overdoses and possible implications on heroin overdose surveillance in Kentucky.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

In mid-2017, the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center (a bonafide agent of Kentucky Department for Public Health-KDPH) was alerted by members of KDPH to anecdotal evidence of a possible increase of SynCan (primarily Serenity) overdoses. The situation presented an opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of syndromic surveillance and emergency medical services (EMS) data systems to provide rapid situational awareness about SynCan overdoses.

Objective:

The aim of this project was to investigate anecdotal reports of an increase in synthetic cannabinoid (SynCan) overdoses in Lexington-Fayette County area of Kentucky, using rapid surveillance systems including emergency department (ED) syndromic surveillance (SyS) and emergency medical services (EMS) data.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

In 2016, the CDC funded 12 states, under the Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance (ESOOS) program, to utilize SyS to increase timeliness of state data on drug overdose events. In order to operationalize the objectives of the grant, there was a need to assess and monitor the quality of Kentucky’s SyS data, with limited resources. We leveraged the NSSP’s R Studio Server to automate quality assurance (QA) monitoring and reporting to meet these objectives.

Objective:

The aim of this project was to develop a nimble system to both monitor and report on the quality of Kentucky emergency department syndromic surveillance (SyS) data at system-wide and facility levels.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded 12 states, under the Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance (ESOOS) program, to utilize state Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and emergency department syndromic surveillance (SyS) data systems to increase timeliness of state data on drug overdose events. An important component of the ESOOS program is the development and validation of case definitions for drug overdoses for EMS and ED SyS data systems with a focus on small area anomaly detection. In fiscal year one of the grant Kentucky collaborated with CDC to develop case definitions for heroin and opioid overdoses for both SyS and EMS data. These drug overdose case definitions are compared between these two rapid surveillance systems, and further compared to emergency department (ED) hospital administrative claims billing data, to assess their face validity.

Objective:

The aim of this project was to assess the face validity of surveillance case definitions for heroin overdose in emergency medical services (EMS) and emergency department syndromic surveillance (SyS) data systems by comparing case counts to those found in a statewide emergency department (ED) hospital administrative billing data system.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded 12 states, under the Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance (ESOOS) program, to utilize state Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and emergency department (ED) syndromic surveillance (SyS) data systems to increase timeliness of state data on drug overdoses. A key aspect of the ESOOS program is the development and validation of case definitions for drug overdoses for EMS and ED SyS data systems. Kentucky's ESOOS team conducted a pilot validation study of a candidate EMS case definition for HOD, using data from the Kentucky State Ambulance Reporting System (KStARS). We examined internal, face validity of the EMS HOD case definition by reviewing pertinent information captured in KStARS data elements; and we examined external agreement with HOD cases identified Kentucky’s statewide hospital billing database.

Objective:

The aims of this project were 1) to assess the validity of a surveillance case definition for identifying heroin overdoses (HOD) in a NEMSIS 3 compliant, state ambulance reporting system; and 2) to develop an approach that can be applied to assess the validity of case definitions for other types of drug overdose events in similar data state data systems.

Submitted by elamb on