About EDDS | CESAR l Center for Substance Abuse Research l University of Maryland

EDDS System

Hospital electronic health records (EHR) contain important information about patients’ laboratory test results, diagnoses, and treatment. Urine specimens collected from patients as part of routine care may also be used to better understand the drugs to which emergency department (ED) patients have been exposed. The Emergency Department Drug Surveillance (EDDS) system provides the country with a new tool for tracking the drugs to which ED overdose patients have been exposed. There are two types of EDDS programs led by CESAR Founding Director Eric Wish: National EDDS and Maryland EDDS (MD-EDDS). The EDDS system collaborates with hospitals to obtain exports of ED patients’ de-identified EHR information and conduct urine drug screening. The urine drug screening includes a one-time sample of approximately 100 de-identified urine specimens submitted by participating hospital sites and targeted studies on the use of dipsticks to test for evolving drugs such as fentanyl and xylazine. EDDS findings have led local hospitals to add fentanyl to their standard urine drug screens and were used by local legislators and advocates in two states (CA, MD) to support the passage of legislation requiring testing for fentanyl in hospitals statewide.

National EDDS

The University of Maryland provided CESAR with funding from 2017-2020 to pilot EDDS in 7 hospitals in Maryland. The EDDS system now includes two programs: National EDDS and Maryland EDDS (MD-EDDS). The success of the pilot project led the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to sponsor National EDDS starting in 2020-2021. National EDDS now includes 30 hospitals in 16 states.

Methodology

Hospital electronic health records (EHR) contain important information about patients’ laboratory test results, diagnoses, and treatment. Urine specimens collected from patients as part of routine care may also be used to better understand the drugs to which emergency department (ED) patients have been exposed. The EDDS system provides the country with a new tool for tracking the drugs to which ED overdose patients have been exposed. There are two types of EDDS programs led by CESAR Founding Director Eric Wish: National EDDS and MD-EDDS. The EDDS system collaborates with hospitals to obtain exports of ED patients’ de-identified EHR information and conduct urine drug screening. The EHR data are provided in data dashboards for each hospital. The urine drug screening includes a one-time sample of approximately 100 de-identified urine specimens participating hospital sites and targeted studies on the use of dipsticks to test for evolving drugs such as fentanyl and xylazine. EDDS findings have led local hospitals to add fentanyl to their standard urine drug screens and were used by local legislators and advocates in two states (CA, MD) to support the passage of legislation requiring testing for fentanyl in hospitals statewide.