Development of a digital platform to improve community response to overdose and prevention among harm reduction organizations

Abstract

The overdose crisis in the USA remains a growing and urgent public health concern. Over 108,000 people died due to overdose during 2021. Fatal and non-fatal overdoses are under-reported in the USA due to current surveillance methods. Systemic gaps in overdose data limit the opportunity for data-driven prevention efforts and resource allocation. This study aims to improve overdose surveillance and community response through developing a digital platform for overdose reporting and response among harm reduction organizations. We used a community-engaged, user-center design research approach. We conducted qualitative interviews with N = 44 overdose stakeholders including people who use drugs and harm reductionists. Results highlighted the need for a unified, multilingual reporting system uniquely tailored for harm reduction organizations. Anonymity, data transparency, protection from legal repercussions, data accuracy, and community-branded marketing emerged as key themes for the overdose platform. Emergent themes included the need for real-time data in a dashboard designed for community response and tailored to first responders and harm reduction organizations. This formative study provides the groundwork for improving overdose surveillance and data-driven response through the development of an innovative overdose digital platform.

An interpretable machine learning framework for opioid overdose surveillance from emergency medical services records

“…While these data sources are effective for many use cases, they cannot effectively support real-time public health responses or location-aware community-embedded harm reduction initiatives. Effectively addressing the opioid epidemic will require access to reliable, timely, and location-aware data on opioid overdoses [ 5 , 7 ]. Centralized records like those of ED departments and medical examiners typically lack important site-of-use data and are subject to significant reporting delays.…”

“…Finally, overdose death and ED admissions are delayed surveillance systems that often lack critical information that could be used to productively inform public health responses and community-centered harm reduction initiatives. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and community harm-reduction organizations both report that their efforts are stymied by a lack of accurate, timely, and location-aware opioid overdose data [ 5 , 7 ].…”

Rapid opioid overdose response system technologies

“…The key mechanism underpinning the effectiveness of this initiative does not lie in the technology, rather in the efforts used to mobilize communities through a shared identity and diversify recruitment through social media and community groups [46]. A more targeted form of digital community empowerment is demonstrated by Claborn et al [47], in their development of an integrated dashboard to support local overdose responses. Such dashboards would bring together data from community-based harm reduction services such as overdose incidents, nonfatal overdoses and drug-checking results and help to direct peer to peer availability of naloxone rescue kits and harm reduction advice to where it is most needed [47].…”

“…A more targeted form of digital community empowerment is demonstrated by Claborn et al [47], in their development of an integrated dashboard to support local overdose responses. Such dashboards would bring together data from community-based harm reduction services such as overdose incidents, nonfatal overdoses and drug-checking results and help to direct peer to peer availability of naloxone rescue kits and harm reduction advice to where it is most needed [47]. Collating this data on a shared digital platform, available to community organizations, people who use drugs, and embedding it within conventional ROORS may support more effective grassroots level responses while also filling critical data gaps that cannot be covered by statutory services [4 ▪ ,47].…”

Public Health Dashboards in Overdose Prevention: The Rhode Island Approach to Public Health Data Literacy, Partnerships, and Action

“…Public health data dashboards created to monitor the overdose crisis and other ongoing public health issues across the United States are no different. Given their growing presence and appeal, the landscape of public health data dashboards leaves room for focused development and improvement in engaging users through accessible data storytelling, sustainable community partnerships, and data-driven decision-making [4,5,[7][8][9][10]. The aim of this viewpoint paper is to describe the Rhode Island approach for data dashboard development, an instructional approach to overdose dashboard development driven by our experiences to date.…”