MDI Myth: Nobody Cares About or Uses MDI Data

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Thursday, November 7, 2024 | 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Eastern
Duration: 1 hour

Overview

The foundation of public health relies on timely, high-quality, and comprehensive death investigations. Understanding mortality trends and anomalies guides funding and shapes the priorities and objectives of public health agencies, advocates, and healthcare partners. Medical examiner and coroner (MEC) offices see the terminal outcomes of public health problems! Yet far too few policymakers and public health professionals fully recognize the valuable contributions of the medicolegal death investigation community. This webinar explains the critical public health role of medical examiner and coroner systems and offers guidance on how public health partners can effectively collaborate with these offices to obtain timely, accurate, and comprehensive information with the goal of saving lives. 

This session will bust the myth that nobody cares (or should care!) about medicolegal death investigation data. Furthermore, we will discuss the development and implementation of three projects at the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner (OME) that aim to improve statewide suicide and drug overdose prevention: 

• Timely Mortality Reporting: Two timely systems for reporting on trends and anomalies in suicide and drug overdose mortality, including the creation and implementation of a drug overdose dashboard and alert system. 

• Sudden and Unexpected Death Surveillance System (SUDSS): An interview-based program in which next of kin are interviewed months after the death occurred to learn complete and actionable information related to suicide and overdose deaths. These interviews also provide an opportunity to provide bereavement and crisis support to those directly impacted by a sudden and unexpected death. 

• Utah Youth Suicide Research Project (UYSRP): A psychological autopsy study that aims to identify key risks in youth who died by suicide. 

Finally, this webinar explains how the OME data is processed and utilized, providing specific examples of how the OME actively contributes to public health efforts aimed at reducing suicide and overdose deaths. Presenters discuss challenges encountered along the way and strategies employed to confront these challenges. 

Detailed Learning Objectives

1. Attendees will learn what mortality data is and how death certificates contribute to it.
2. Attendees will identify improved methods of gathering MEC information for optimal results.
3. Attendees will identify ways MEC systems collaborate with public health systems for the public good.

Presenters

• Deirdre Amaro, MD | Chief Medical Examiner, Utah Office of the Medical Examiner
• Michael J. Staley, Ph.D. | Suicide Prevention Research Coordinator, Utah Office of the Medical Examiner