Introduction

MDI Myth: Nobody Cares About or Uses MDI Data

MDI Myth: Nobody Cares About or Uses MDI Data

← Back to Webinar Series Page

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

The Forensic Technology Center of Excellence is proud to offer up to 1 credit hour of ABMDI Continuing Education Credits for this webinar.

ABMDI Credit

ABMDI Continuing Education Credits will be calculated by total time spent watching. If you experience any difficulty accessing your certificates, please contact forensicCOE@rti.org.

We are unable to administer CE credit to users watching in groups. In order to receive your CE credits, you must be logged in to our learning ecosystem under your own name. If you are not logged in under your own name, you will not receive CE credits.

Learn more about ABMDI credits here. To check out what other Continuing Education opportunities are available with the FTCOE, click here!


Funding for this Forensic Technology Center of Excellence webinar has been provided by the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Assistance's COSSUP, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

All Forensic Technology Center of Excellence live webinars are hosted using Zoom Webinar. Live webinars are archived and posted on our website within two weeks of their airing. Archived webinars do not require access to the Zoom platform.

The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this webinar are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Contact us at ForensicCOE@rti.org with any questions and subscribe to our newsletter for notifications.


Related Content

The Impacts of Governing Agency: A Comparison of Resources in the Patchwork of Medicolegal Death Investigation Systems

Publication Forensic Science International: Synergy, April 2024  Authors Hope M. Smiley-McDonald | RTI International Kelly A. Keyes | RTI International Sean Wire | RTI International Kathryn Greenwell | RTI International Nelson A. Santos | RTI International Jeri D. Ropero-Miller | RTI…

Technology Use Among the Nation’s Medical Examiner and Coroner Offices: Data from the 2018 Census of Medical Examiner and Coroner Offices

Publication Forensic Science International: Synergy, May 2024  Authors Liat C. Weinstein | RTI International Kelly A. Keyes | RTI International Connor Brooks | Bureau of Justice Statistics Micaela A. Ascolese | RTI International Hope M. Smiley-McDonald | RTI International Jeri…

Medicolegal Death Investigations On Tribal Lands—Underrepresented Or Underserved?

Publication Forensic Science International: Synergy, May 2024  Authors Jeri D. Ropero-Miller, Ph.D. | RTI International Wayne J. Pitts, Ph.D. | RTI International Anum Imran, BS | RTI International Ronny A. Bell, Ph.D. | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Hope M. Smiley-McDonald, Ph.D. | RTI International …