Several steps are taken to ensure that information about individual patients and decedents is not misused:

• All DAWN staff — DAWN Reporters, data processing staff, and data analysts — follow strict confidentiality protocols and receive training on the protection of identifiable health information. All DAWN staff sign confidentiality agreements that enumerate their responsibilities for protecting sensitive information.


• DAWN collects only the minimum necessary information about each reportable case. DAWN does not request or accept direct identifiers (such as names, birth dates, medical record numbers) for patients or decedents.


• All DAWN Reporters are assigned user IDs and passwords to access DAWN’s Internet-based reporting systems. All data are encrypted for transmission via the Internet, using industry standard 128-bit secure socket layer (SSL) encryption.


• In published tables, certain cells are "suppressed" (i.e., the data are deleted) when they would contain only a few cases that might inadvertently lead to identification of an individual.


• Data for a particular hospital are never released to the public, and are never shared with other participating hospitals. Strict protocols limit access to data for specific hospitals or specific drug brands.