Download Document

DAWN System


The federal government set up the
DAWN System of monitor the toxicity of
drugs other than alcohol.
DAWN - stands for:




Drug
Abuse
Warning
Network
DAWN Collects this data…

This system collect data on:





Drug-related crises
From several hundred
Hospital emergency rooms
In metropolitan areas
Around the country
How it counts an “episode”

If a person comes to the ER of a DAWN
hospital and a problem is determined to be
related to drug abuse,



Then each drug involved (up to 4) will be recorded
as “mentioned”
Alcohol is only “mentioned” in combination with
any other “drug” - never counted alone!
More than one drug may be “mentioned” per
incident, and each drug will be counted as a
separate “mention.”
Frequency


The DAWN system does not correct for
frequency of use.
So we never will know the exact number
of repeat offenders - just the drugs are
mentioned
Deaths

If a drug is involved in a person’s death,
the coroner is expected to report this to
the DAWN system
Drug Mentions - 1995





Go to page 27 in the textbook
Look at the number of ER episodes on the left
side of Table 2.2
Then look at the Drug-related deaths on the
right side of the Table.
Alcohol-in-combination is 1st in ER episodes
and 2nd in drug-related deaths
Dang……..alcohol is our greatest killer
among the drugs!