Interior Health introduces improved overdose surveillance
KAMLOOPS — Interior Health has unveilled a new surveillance tool to improve how overdoses are tracked at emergency departments across the regions.
Now when a patient who has overdosed, or is suspected to have overdosed, arrives at an emergency department, their visit will be recorded into a data base, making information on overdoses available in real-time.
“In the past, the data we had on overdoses had significant limitations. It was not available in real time and was difficult to turn into timely action,” says IHA Medical Health Officer Dr. Silvina Mema. “The introduction of this new surveillance measure allows us to identify where risks are arising and will enable us to take proactive action to warn and protect people who are at risk.