Medical students are the next generation of physicians, and emphasizing the importance of and gaining comfort with discussing firearm safety with patients from early is vital to incorporating this issue into physicians' daily practice.

Healthcare providers hold a vital role in preventative care. Discussing firearm safety has shown to improve patient wellbeing by increasing the number of firearms that are kept locked and unloaded in homes (1, 2). However, due to a lack of training, providers often do not feel comfortable counseling patients and families regarding safe gun ownership (3, 4).

75% of physicians lack formal training on counseling for firearm interventions and there is currently no standardized medical student or resident physician education surrounding firearm violence (5, 6). Given these alarming statistics, we see an urgent need to train medical students, residents, and current providers with firearms injury prevention curriculum.

In 2019, SAFE built an online curriculum that was updated and released in July 2024. Clinicians and Firearms was created to serve as a model for firearm injury prevention education. This platform can hopefully reflect lessons that can be incorporated into medical schools’ structured clinical exams for their students.

Click Here to Watch Clinicians and Firearms.

1. Pamphlet For Patients About Gun Safety

2. How to Counsel

3. The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma

4. Bullet Points

Overview

The overall goal is to teach and empower health care providers to speak to their patients about firearms injury reduction strategies.

Included in the course are modules on:

1). The epidemiology of firearms and of firearms injuries and deaths (including homicides, suicides and accidental injuries/deaths)

2) the kinds of firearms and ammunition in common use in the US and the injuries they are likely to cause

3) some strategies and examples of working with different types of patients to help them reduce their risk for firearms injuries and deaths

4) the laws governing physician activities related to firearms injury prevention.

Registration Fee: Free
 Estimated Time to Complete:  90 minutes
 

Click Watch Clinicians and Firearms to learn more and to watch.

Watch Clinicians and Firearms 2.0 Trailer 

Credits

AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ (2.00 hours), ANCC Contact Hours (2.00 hours), Non-Physician Participation Credit (2.00 hours)

Target Audience

Specialties - Pediatrics

Professions - Fellow/Resident, Non-Physician, Physician, Student

Objectives

At the conclusion of this activity, learners should be able to:

1. Summarize the demographics of firearms ownership in the United States

2. Describe the epidemiology of firearms injuries and deaths in the United States including risk factors for homicide, suicide and accidental injuries

3. Identify different types of firearms and ammunition and relate them to the types of injuries they typically cause

4. Broach the topic of firearms injury prevention with patients and their families

5. Strategize with patients on the best ways to reduce risk for firearms injuries in their households

Accreditation

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by Stanford Medicine and Scrubs Addressing the Firearm Epidemic (SAFE). Stanford Medicine is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.