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Injury Prevention

About Our Programs

Injury prevention/public education programs begin with the collection and analysis of population and patient data from a wide variety of sources to describe the status of injury morbidity, mortality and distribution throughout the state. Injury epidemiology is concerned with the evaluation of the frequency, rates and pattern of injury events in a population and is obtained by analyzing data from sources such as death records, hospital discharge databases and data from EMS, Emergency Departments and trauma registries. Trauma systems must develop strategies that help prevent injury as part of an integrated, coordinated and inclusive trauma system. For years, the IDOH has conducted an array of injury prevention programs. With the creation of the new IDOH Trauma and Injury Prevention Division in 2011, we have shifted our focus from injury prevention programming to the collection and analysis of injury data (epidemiology) and recognized best practices in the injury field, which we can push out to those around the state conducting impressive and far-reaching injury prevention programming. The IDHS and other Indiana state agencies also conduct injury prevention/education activities.

Injury Prevention Advisory Council (IPAC)

Mission: The mission of the Injury Prevention Advisory Council (IPAC) is to reduce the number and severity of preventable injuries in Indiana through leadership and advocacy.

Goal: Through improved collection and dissemination of data and coordination of injury prevention and control efforts, the Indiana Department of Health will reduce injury-related morbidity and mortality in Indiana.

Vision: Working together to create a safe and injury free Indiana.

Indiana Injury Prevention Advisory Council Terms of Reference

  • Working Premises of the Council

    Injuries are the leading cause of death for Hoosiers 1 to 44 years of age; the third leading cause of death for Hoosier 45-54; the fourth leading cause of death for those 55-64; and in the top ten causes of death for Hoosiers 65 and older. Indiana is consistently in the top five states for unintentional suffocation deaths for infants less than one year of age. As such, the prevention of such injuries (and subsequent cost savings) should be a priority for the State of Indiana. Injuries are a public health issue, and as such, should be framed within the Public Health Model using guidelines developed by national/international public health organizations.

    • Injury prevention activities need to be scientifically, evidence-based whenever possible using national guidelines/evidence if available.
    • Evaluation is an essential component of injury prevention to ensure that the intervention is effective.
    • Intentional and unintentional injuries will be included, excluding hospital patient safety issues.
    • The work needs to be rewarding and useful at the individual, organizational, and state level.
    • The group needs to be representative of injuries that encompass all ages, state geographic locations (rural and urban), and ethnicities/cultures/races/religions.
    • Our vision for the future of injury prevention in Indiana must begin with a framework that will ensure that professionals are properly trained with the skills and knowledge necessary to reduce the burden of injury. A curriculum for injury prevention, i.e. core competencies, is necessary for injury prevention professionals to excel and strengthen the field as a whole.

    The Injury Prevention Advisory Council is expanding its membership to include more stakeholders from across the state. Interested partners will receive email updates about news and research in injury prevention throughout the year to stay up to date. If you are interested in becoming a member of IPAC or would like to receive more information about IPAC, please contact indianatrauma@isdh.in.gov.

  • Upcoming IPAC Meetings

    Each meeting will be online through a video conferencing application called StarLeaf. Please check your email for an invitation or reach out to indianatrauma@health.in.gov to be added to the listserv.

    Date

    MeetingTime
    August 18, 2023
    November 17, 2023
    IPAC+INVDRS 10:00 am
  • Previous IPAC Meetings

INVDRS

Indiana Violent Death Reporting System (INVDRS)

Indiana is one of 50 states (including D.C. and Puerto Rico) to receive funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to collect violent death data using the National Violent Death Reporting System. The purpose of the funding is to improve the planning, implementation, and evaluation of violence prevention programs. The grant will be administered by the Indiana Department of Health’s Division of Trauma and Injury Prevention.

The Indiana Violent Death Reporting System (INVDRS) will gather vital records data, law enforcement records, and coroner reports into one central web-based registry in order to better understand the circumstances of violent deaths, including homicides, suicides, undetermined intent deaths, and unintentional firearm deaths. The CDC provides funding to utilize the software and to implement an abstraction process (people, technical support, etc.) to combine the data. The coding manual used by the record abstractors can be found here. The coding manual includes information on what data elements are collected and the definition of the element.

If you would like to request data from INVDRS, please fill out this form and send to Morgan Sprecher at msprecher@health.in.gov.