Graphic Description – Frequently Used Data Elements Collection Systems And Primary Documentation

• NCJ Number: 308970
• Date Published: April 2024
• Length: 5 pages
• Grant Number(s): 15PNIJ-21-GK-02192-MUMU
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Award: Forensic Technology Center of Excellence, Fiscal Year 2021

Annotation

This publication of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ)—in partnership with its Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (FTCOE) at RTI International and the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention— is meant to illustrate frequently used data elements collection systems and primary documentation.

Abstract

This measles chart, published by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ)—in partnership with its Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (FTCOE) at RTI International and the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—is intended to provide a graphical representation of government systems that collect similar death investigation and data elements. NIJ, FTCOE, and the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics convened a virtual Medicolegal Death Investigation Data Exchange Working Group (MDI-Data-WG) beginning in September 2020. This working group was formed to document the types of data that are commonly exchanged with public health and public safety partners and determine collective usage points for medicolegal death investigations (MDIs); provide recommendations on how to improve the naming process for emerging drugs; guide the drug mapping/classification process; and recommend needed enhancements to the operation of exchanging forensic data with other organizations. The X axis of the chart represents five mortality collection systems, and the Y axis represents the frequently used data elements put together by the MDI-Data-WG. Layered on top of this information are sections of color that correspond to the primary documentation in the upper left-corner of where that information may typically come from (i.e., primary documentation source).