Injury and Violence Prevention Data Projects

• Minnesota Drug Overdose and Substance Use Pilot Project (MNDOSA)
  Drug overdose deaths continue to rise in Minnesota. In response to this crisis, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) launched the Minnesota Drug Overdose and Substance Use Pilot Surveillance Activity (MNDOSA) at select hospitals to track all emergency department-treated and in-patient admissions or cases of recreational drug use, both fatal and nonfatal.

• Minnesota Violent Death Reporting System (MNVDRS)
  Violent deaths can have a profound impact on Minnesotans and Minnesota communities. Minnesotans who survive violent experiences are often left struggling with long-term physical, psychological, emotional consequences. MNVDRS gathers information to learn more about those who die through violent means. Collecting this information can help us understand how frequently violent deaths are occurring, and identify themes so we can see where we can improve our systems and intervene to prevent these deaths.

• Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) / Sudden Death in the Young (SDY) Case Registry
  The sudden death of a child is tragic and has far-reaching effects on families and communities. In Minnesota, the Department of Health is working with the Data Coordinating Center, based at the Michigan Public Health Institute (MPHI), to gather and store information about sudden child deaths. This information will help us understand how common this syndrome is, and what are the potential causes and risk factors for infants, children and young adults who die suddenly and unexpectedly, so we can work to prevent it.
  1. Quick Facts on SUID in Minnesota
  2. Sudden Death in the Young

• MDH Syndromic Surveillance
  Syndromic surveillance emphasizes the use of near real-time data with statistical tools to detect and characterize unusual activity for further public health investigation.

  Syndromic surveillance systems may be utilized for situational awareness, to further characterize an outbreak beyond initial detection and notification, to monitor the spread of an outbreak, and/or to monitor the effectiveness of outbreak response and interventions. These data help public health officials detect, monitor, and respond quickly to local public health threats and events of public health importance.

  Syndromic surveillance is currently being used at MDH to monitor and identify trends in COVID-19 and drug overdose symptoms and diagnoses from emergency department and inpatient hospital visits via admission, discharge, and transfer (ADT) data.

• Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance (ESOOS)
  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) funded 32 states and the District of Columbia to improve data collection efforts on opioid-involved overdoses through the Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance (ESOOS) cooperative agreement.  Minnesota received ESOOS funding in September 2017. The goal of the ESOOS cooperative agreement is to:
  1. Establish an early warning system by using data from emergency departments (ED) and/or emergency medical services (EMS) to detect increases or decreases in nonfatal opioid overdoses
  2. Integrate data from death certificates and unique medical examiner and coroner investigations, including toxicology reports, on opioid overdose deaths to track multi-state trends or focus on overdoses in a single county to inform local prevention efforts. These data are compiled through the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Report System (SUDORS)
  3. Share findings with state and national stakeholders to inform their opioid overdose prevention and response efforts

For more information on Minnesota Department of Health Injury and Violence Data Projects, contact Jon Roesler at jon.roesler@state.mn.us.