Making effective AOD policies requires accurate and timely information to track trends in AOD use and harms. Ambulance data is pivotal for understanding AOD-related harms given that paramedic services are often the first contact patients have with the healthcare system following acute harm.
The National Ambulance Surveillance System (NASS) is a novel and unique system that includes details from clinical coding of electronic patient care records from ambulance services. AODstats, an interactive website, includes data from the Victorian arm of NASS. AODstats provides an efficient monitoring tool used to inform policy development and AOD service provision; and provides a framework for further expansion. NASS data from AODstats and examples of expansion will be explored. The discussion will include stakeholder reports related to AOD-related self-harm, hotspot areas, AOD-related transport crashes and targeted information for local councils.
Presenter
Jessica Killian Research Fellow Turning Point, Eastern Health
Jessica is a research fellow in the National Addiction and Mental Health Surveillance Unit (NAMHSU) at Turning Point and an adjunct fellow at Monash University.
She joined Turning Point in 2011 and was instrumental in redeveloping the Alcohol Statistics and Drugs Stats Handbooks into the AODstats website.
Jessica works across various research projects in the NAMHSU team, including AODstats.