Surveillance is the ongoing collection, analysis, interpretation and timely dissemination of injury data. It is an important first step in reducing the burden of injuries and provides data necessary for researchers, policy makers, injury prevention professionals and practitioners to understand the occurrence of injury in BC. It is critical that a comprehensive and standardized surveillance system be developed and maintained so that effective injury prevention initiatives can be developed and implemented.

Surveillance of mortality, hospitalization and emergency department data will help communities to assess:

• the magnitude, severity and external causes of injury
• what populations are at risk
• the effectiveness of intervention programs

BCIRPU monitors, collects and analyzes data from numerous databases throughout BC that record injury statistics and information.  It also facilitates the development and implementation of new databases that provide new and original information. 

Currently, BCIRPU’s surveillance system includes analyses and reports from:

• Mortality Data:  BC Vital Statistics 
• Hospitalization/Morbidity Data: BC Ministry of Health Services, Discharge Abstract Database 
• Emergency Department Data: Canadian Hospital Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP), Emergency Department Injury Surveillance System (EDISS) for 2000-2003

Please refer to the online data tool, BCIRPU's newest surveillance tool, to obtain mortality and hospitalization data.