The recording for our February 21, 2023 webinar on the use of NC DETECT and the North Carolina Violent Death Reporting System Dashboard for firearm injury surveillance is now available on our training page. NC DETECT has firearm injury indicators available for emergency department and EMS data.
You may also want to view the firearm injury reports available on the NC-FASTER page.
When using NC DETECT data for firearm injury surveillance, please keep in mind the following points:
- While ICD-10-CM codes for firearm injury mechanism of intent (assault, intentional (self-inflicted), undetermined, unintentional) are available, they are not always used and, when used, may be inaccurate.
- Chief complaint terms are included in several firearm injury indicators to improve the ability to identify firearm injury events. As injury mechanism ICD-10-CM codes are not required for reimbursement purposes, not all firearm injury emergency department visits will receive a firearm injury mechanism of intent ICD-10-CM code.
- NC DETECT is a visit-based surveillance system. The same patient may have multiple emergency department visits and/or EMS encounters for their initial firearm injury if they are transferred from one hospital to another to receive specialized trauma care.