What is Taught on Firearm Safety in Undergraduate, Graduate, and Continuing Medical Education? A Review of Educational Programs

Abstract

These results underscore a priority for developing firearm safety education programs in undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education settings.

Continuing Medical Education and Firearm Violence Counseling

“…Fulfilling this imperative requires the cultural competence and nuance necessary to have dedicated and respectful conversations with patients [13]. While low rates of gun safety counseling and lack of physician training to provide counseling are established [6,12,28,30,32], the present research is the first to illuminate the potent role that CME may play in increasing counseling. CME was strongly associated with providing firearm counseling often or very often, including asking patients with depression about their firearm access as well as increased knowledge of how to counsel.…”

“…These findings are promising, as they suggest that the provision of firearm safety counseling need not be a partisan issue; instead, our findings provide an opportunity for physicians across party lines to sensibly unite behind the need to provide accurate and effective firearm counseling to patients, as has been done before with safety issues like domestic violence, seatbelts, biking helmets, and smoking cessation. Perhaps the disparity between belief and low CME attendance rate is not driven by a lack of interest or perceived benefit but by the paucity of available CME firearm safety opportunities [28].…”

“…Existing literature suggests that physician training in firearm safety education is woefully inadequate [16,18,[20][21][22]28]. When asked directly whether there was a need for physician education on firearm injury prevention counseling, 74 percent of 573 internists answered "somewhat" or "to a great extent" [20].…”

“…Similarly, among psychiatric residency directors, 79 percent of respondents had not considered including training to address firearm injury prevention, citing lack of standardized material, faculty expertise, and training guidelines as key barriers [21], echoing the sentiments of preventive medicine programs [22]. A recent review found that only four firearm safety training programs report targeting medical education, none of which targeted psychiatrists or psychiatry residents [28].…”

Yes, You Can: Physicians, Patients, and Firearms

“…A systematic review identified only 4 reports on the development and assessment of training for clinicians (88). Input from clinician and nonclinician firearm owners is important (51).…”