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Health System Interventions to Prevent Firearm Injuries and Fatalities: A Workshop

Completed

Firearm injuries account for nearly $3 billion in emergency department and inpatient care each year, while firearm deaths remain in the third-leading category of injury-related deaths in the US. Firearm violence is a prevalent public health problem, contributing to injury, disability, and death among adults and children, and burdening the US health care system.

Workshop discussions will feature evidence and best practices by health and hospital systems, and health care professionals in preventing firearm injuries and death. Speakers will focus on primary prevention and will frame the scope of future research on healthcare system interventions.

Description

An ad hoc committee will plan a 2-day public workshop that addresses the research needed to enable healthcare systems to be more effective in preventing firearm injury and death. The workshop will focus on the evidence and best practices by health systems and health care professionals in preventing gun injuries.

The workshop would include speakers and discussion panels that:

    • define the current state of evidence on healthcare-based interventions.
    • present current evidenced-informed practices from selected health systems.
    • define foundations for best approaches to disseminate and implement evidence-based practices.
    • identify community linkages that may help empower health systems to be more effective with interventions.
    • frame the scope and programming of potential future research that can be carried out by KP and others to fill identified research gaps.

Panel discussions should consider the many facets of the health system that may be touch points for gun injury prevention strategies such as primary care, specialty care, behavioral health, and emergency departments. Further, prevention strategies to be discussed should include a focus on high-risk individuals who, through a combination of environmental and behavioral risk factors, are at highest risk of a firearm injury or death.

Panel discussions should not focus on regulatory or other public policy approaches or interventions related to firearm sales, manufacture or ownership of firearms. The workshop will focus on primary prevention and not the acute care or rehabilitation services for firearm injury victims.
The committee will plan and organize the workshop, select and invite speakers and discussants, and moderate the discussions. A proceedings of the presentations and discussions at the workshop will be prepared by a designated rapporteur in accordance with institutional guidelines.

Collaborators

Sponsors

Private: Non Profit

Staff

Rose Marie Martinez

Lead

Melissa French

Lead

Alexis Wojtowicz

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