Editorial

Future Physicians and Firearms: The Need for Additional Training in Firearm Injury Prevention Counseling

Authors: Tamera Coyne-Beasley, MD, MPH, Adrea Theodore, MD, MPH

Abstract

Firearm injury is a major public health issue, with a significant impact on society in both economic and human terms.1–5 Physicians can be involved in the prevention of firearm injuries and many professional medical organizations have policy statements with firearm injury prevention strategies.1–8 One role outlined for physicians in many of these policy statements is counseling patients, parents and families on the risks of firearm injury and the formation or continuation of safe household firearm storage practices.2,5 Physicians who interact with families with children are strongly encouraged to counsel parents on the elimination of guns from their homes and from other environments where their children play.1,5 In the event that patients or parents choose not to remove guns from the home, it is recommended that they should be counseled to store all their guns in a safe manner, which is locked and unloaded, with the ammunition locked and stored in a separate location.

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