TY - JOUR
AU - Cunningham, Rebecca M.
AB - Key PointsClinical Approaches to Prevention of Firearm-Related InjuryInjury by firearm is preventable. Clinicians can reduce patients’ risks of firearm-related injury and death using evidence-based clinical strategies in everyday practice.Clinicians should provide anticipatory guidance about firearm safety and storage in the context of routine clinical encounters, with tailored counseling for populations at elevated risk for specific firearm-related outcomes.Discussions should be normalized, tailored to specific clinical issues, and respectful of patients’ firearm-ownership decisions. Clinicians should be knowledgeable about a range of locked firearm-storage options and tailor discussions to the patient. Repeated discussions with a patient and multiple small changes over time may be required to ensure that all firearms in the household are locked and unloaded.Ideally, firearms should be kept unloaded and locked in a storage device or container, with the ammunition stored and locked separately. Storage options include cable locks, trigger or clamshell locks, lock boxes, and safes. Locking may involve keys, keypads, or biometric (e.g., fingerprint) devices, depending on the patient’s preferences and motivations for ownership.Temporary storage away from the patient’s household or where firearms cannot be easily accessed should be discussed in times of elevated or imminent risk of injury.Validated screening tools and evidence-based clinical strategies should be implemented in clinical settings in which patients at elevated risk for community and intimate partner violence are treated.Tailored counseling should be provided to patients at risk for suicide, cognitive decline, intimate partner violence, or community violence and those caring for children.Health system leaders should advance prevention programs by supporting the implementation of evidence-based counseling and training of the clinical workforce.
TI - Clinical Approaches to the Prevention of Firearm-Related Injury
JF - The New England Journal of Medicine
DO - 10.1056/NEJMra2306867
DA - 2024-09-12
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/the-new-england-journal-of-medicine/clinical-approaches-to-the-prevention-of-firearm-related-injury-YY2LJXElgy
SP - 926
EP - 940
VL - 391
IS - 10
DP - DeepDyve
ER -