This Resource Guide has been created to outline the design of the FAST Overdose Alert Platform for other health units, organizations and networks to use in their own communities. Because it was designed to track local overdose patterns and trends in real-time, community organizations and health agencies can better respond to community needs. This document will detail the technical specifications required to establish this system in your community.
Language: English
FAST Overdose Alert Platform Resource Guide
Co-designing drug alerts for health and community workers for an emerging early warning system
Alerts should be ‘shareable’ across a range of clinical and community settings and audiences. To maximise engagement and impact, alerts must command attention, be easily recognisable, be available on multiple platforms (electronic and printable formats) in varying levels of detail, and be disseminated via appropriate notification mechanisms to meet the needs of diverse stakeholder groups.
NACCHO – Overdose Spike Response Framework for Communities and Local Health Departments
The purpose of this resource is to help local health departments (LHDs) plan for, respond to, and evaluate public health responses to overdose spikes.
Public Health Drug Checking in North Carolina – video
1.5 min video about a groundbreaking collaboration between people who use drugs and public health scientists. Filmed at the NC Survivors Union in Greensboro, and the UNC campus in Chapel Hill, come see how analytic chemistry can prevent overdose deaths.
Narcotica Podcast – Episode 87: Drug Testing Equals Empowerment with Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta and Charlton Roverson
Narcotica co-hosts Aaron Ferguson and Troy Farah spoke with Charlton Roverson, the Eastern Regional Coordinator with the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition in Fayetteville and Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta, a pharmaco-epidemiologist and scientist at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who helps run the UNC Street Drug Analysis Lab.
AMERSA Podcast Series – Harm Reduction: Compassionate Care for People who use Drugs
Episode 1: Test your drugs, not your limits – the role of advanced drug checking in harm reduction
Costing analysis of a point-of-care drug checking program in Rhode Island
We conducted a costing analysis of a new pilot drug checking service that employed an FTIR spectrometer, fentanyl test strips and confirmatory testing in Rhode Island from January 2023-May 2023. We used microcosting methods to determine the overall cost during this period and cost per drug checked, reflecting realistic service capacity. These findings demonstrate feasibility and inform the resources needed to scale-up drug checking services to reduce overdose risk.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Drug checking project cuts overdoses
Supported by the N.C. Collaboratory, epidemiologist Nabarun Dasgupta and his team analyze street drugs and alert communities about dangers.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – Drug Detection, Analysis, and Monitoring Workshop Report
This report is a summary of a workshop convened to capture the analytical and data challenges inherent to the detection, identification, and monitoring of illicit drugs in the United States – specifically highlighting current practices, challenges, and opportunities for growth within communities.
