Perspectives on clinician-delivered firearm safety counseling during routine care: Results of a national survey.

Simonetti JA, Azrael D, Zhang W, Miller M. Perspectives on clinician-delivered firearm safety counseling during routine care: Results of a national survey. Preventive medicine. 2022 May 1; 158:107039.

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Abstract:

Only 7.5% of United States (U.S.) adults report ever having spoken with a clinician about firearm safety. One reason that clinicians may infrequently counsel patients about firearm safety is that they are unsure whether patients are open to these discussions. The aim of this study was to assess public opinion about whether clinicians should provide firearm safety counseling for patients in specific clinical contexts. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of online survey data collected in 2019 from a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults residing in households with firearms (n  =  4030, response 65%). Participants were asked "As part of routine care, should physicians and/or other health care professionals talk with their patients about firearms and firearm safety if their patient or their patient''s family member (is at risk of suicide; has mental health or behavioral problems; is abusing or addicted to alcohol or drugs; is a victim of domestic violence; has Alzheimer''s disease or another dementia; is going through a hard time)?" Across the six contexts, 76-89% of adults reported that clinicians should "sometimes" or "always" discuss firearm safety with patients. These findings demonstrate that a large majority of U.S. adults who live in households with firearms believe that clinicians should discuss firearm safety when patients or their family members are experiencing specific clinical scenarios. Clinicians'' and healthcare systems'' concerns that patients might object to discussing firearm safety in these contexts should not impede efforts to integrate such interventions into routine care.