Connect3: Linking Existing Surveillance for the Threefold Improvement of Situational Awareness and Real-Time Adverse Event Monitoring for Opioids and Synthetic Cannabinoids

Executive Summary

This project focuses on interconnection of the three aforementioned established surveillance systems (NSSP, NPDS, and NFLIS), which allows for a multidisciplinary approach to conducting real-time adverse event monitoring, surveillance, and situational awareness. As these systems are currently not in communication with one another, they limit collaboration between users as well as agencies and within agency Centers, Institutes and Offices who are working on the same mission of public health action; finding ways to improve the communication, collaboration, and data exchange between the National Syndromic Surveillance Program, National Poison Data System, and National Forensic Laboratory Information System will be critical to the success of the project. The Connect3 project involves information sharing and data exchange to increase communication and collaboration across federal, state, and local stakeholders to proactively protect the public’s health and improve strategic response and surveillance of opioid and synthetic cannabinoid- related overdoses. The core activities of this project will be focused on overlaying data from the NSSP, NSDP, and NFLIS in relation to past adverse events using local case examples. Additionally, the team will examine how signaled adverse events in one system relate to adverse event signals in the other systems in real time.

Team Members

Rashid Njai (team lead), CDC
Nimi Idaikkadar, CDC

Milestones

October 2018: Project selected into the HHS Ignite Accelerator
March 2019: Time in Accelerator Began
June 2019: Time in Accelerator Ended