Clinicians can play a major role in reducing their patients’ risks of firearm-related injuries by incorporating evidence-based strategies into their practice, according to an article published by researchers at the University of Michigan.
The article comes just months after the U.S. surgeon general declared firearm violence a public health crisis, with firearms a leading cause of death affecting all demographics, often leading to lifelong physical and mental health effects for survivors, as well as lasting impacts for families, friends, and communities.
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“Clinical Approaches to the Prevention of Firearm-Related Injury,” published Sept. 12 in The New England Journal of Medicine, provides a review of evidence-based strategies for clinicians to use with their patients.
Those strategies include screening for firearm availability and access, counseling around firearm safety and locked storage, and tailored screening and intervention strategies for preventing firearm-related suicide, intimate partner violence, community violence and older-adult firearm injury.
U-M researcher Patrick Carter co-authored the review article with Rebecca Cunningham, former U-M vice president for research and innovation and longtime firearm injury prevention researcher. Cunningham is now president of the University of Minnesota.
In addition to strategies for clinicians, the article provides resources such as sample clinical screening questions to use with patients to initiate discussions around firearm safety, step-by-step guidance on how to have evidence-based conversations with patients about firearm safety and an overview of firearm storage methods.
“Clinicians have a unique opportunity to engage with patients on firearm safety to prevent firearm suicide, unintentional injury and interpersonal violence by offering critical interventions that have been shown to reduce injury risk,” said Carter, professor of emergency medicine in the Medical School; professor of health behavior and health education in the School of Public Health; and co-director of the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention.
“Further, this research shows that when done in the right way, patients are receptive to these discussions with their providers, and they can make a difference in the measures that patients take in their own home with regard to firearm safety.”
The review highlights the importance of nonjudgmental, patient-centered counseling that respects patients’ rights and motivations for firearm ownership, noting that counseling is most effective when clinicians align patient motivations, goals and values with safety recommendations.
The review also outlines steps health-care leaders can take to move prevention efforts forward in their health care systems, including by supporting the implementation of evidence-based counseling programs and providing for additional clinician education to enhance the use of evidence-based programs in clinical practices.
“Despite past funding limitations, we now have a base of scientific evidence to support effective clinical practices to reduce firearm injuries,” Carter said. “It’s crucial for health care systems to provide clinicians with the necessary time, training and resources to integrate evidence-based strategies for reducing firearm injuries and death into their clinical practice.
“We hope that this article can be a resource for clinicians and hospital systems that want to have an impact on reducing firearm injury risk in their patient populations and communities.”
