A model reporting system for firearm deaths and other suicides and homicides is being piloted by twelve state and local organizations across the country as a step toward establishing a national surveillance system. This presentation will review progress and data findings from the first full year of data collection. The Harvard Injury Control Research Center’s NFISS project is coordinating the privately funded pilot. Sites merged year 2000 data on firearm deaths from coroner/medical examiner reports, death certificates, police records, and police crime laboratory reports. In 2001, four sites are collecting data on non-firearm suicides and homicides as well. Before data collection began, 28 cases were sent to participating sites to test coding on 67 data elements. Eighty-one percent of the site-assigned codes agreed with the NFISS-assigned “gold standard.” Measures were taken to improve coding uniformity. Preliminary data from two sites have indicated that the multi-source reporting system captures more information than traditional mortality data. For example, among 617 gun deaths, the proportion coded as “unknown” for gun type was 76% according to death certificates but 37% under the multi-source system. Toxicology reports were available on most victims; 41% tested positive for alcohol or street drugs. The ability of the system to identify complex incidents, such as murder/suicides and multiple-victim workplace shootings, and its ability to document policy-relevant information, such as how teenaged shooters obtained their weapon and the circumstances preceding suicides and gun accidents, will be evaluated. Recommendations for revising the system and implementing it nationally will be presented.
Learning Objectives: Participants who attend the session will be able to: 1. Articulate why a national violent death reporting system is needed 2. Describe the methods used by the NFISS surveillance pilot and some of the first-year data highlights 3. Evaluate the utility of the reporting system for injury control and its applicability to a fully national system
Keywords: Surveillance, Injuries
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.