The Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics (ESSENCE) is a statewide syndromic surveillance system that is used by the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) to analyze emergency department data in near real time. ESSENCE has traditionally been used to identify communicable disease outbreaks such as meningitis clusters, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, mumps, zika, and COVID-19.
The Office of Data and Analytics (ODA) monitors ESSENCE daily to identify emerging overdose trends. IDOH utilizes a set of standard overdose queries developed by the CDC and are routinely updated to improve sensitivity and specificity of all overdose data collected from hospital facilities. When the case definition for an overdose outbreak or cluster has been met within ESSENCE, IDOH alerts the corresponding local health department of potential increased drug overdose activity in their area. LHDs play a leading role in responding to overdose outbreaks and spikes through leveraging community partners, mobilizing outreach initiatives, and establishing linkage to care.
Note: Overdose cases in ESSENCE are always considered ‘suspected overdoses’ as opposed to ‘confirmed’ because false positives may be collected, or not true overdoses, may be detected. In addition, ED visits rely only on the patient exhibiting or reporting clinical signs/symptoms of poisoning/overdose, but have not been validated with laboratory testing.
If you are a member of a reporting hospital facility or a local health department employee, you may sign up for an ESSENCE account by contacting Shelby Nierman, Overdose Surveillance Systems Epidemiologist, at snierman@health.in.gov.