Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center for Suicide Prevention, Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center, Aurora, CO, United States of America; Denver-Seattle Center of Innovation for Veteran-Centered and Value-Driven Care, Veterans Health Administration, United States of America; Division of Hospital Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, United States of America.
Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States of America.
Prev Med. 2022 May;158:107039. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107039. Epub 2022 Apr 7.
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.
仅有 7.5%的美国成年人表示曾与临床医生讨论过枪支安全问题。临床医生可能很少就枪支安全问题对患者进行咨询的原因之一是，他们不确定患者是否愿意接受这些讨论。本研究旨在评估公众对临床医生在特定临床情况下应为患者提供枪支安全咨询的意见。我们对 2019 年从美国居住在有枪支家庭的成年人中抽取的具有全国代表性的样本（n=4030，应答率为 65%）进行了一项在线调查的横断面分析。参与者被问到“作为常规护理的一部分，如果患者或其患者的家庭成员（有自杀风险；有心理健康或行为问题；滥用或成瘾于酒精或药物；是家庭暴力的受害者；患有阿尔茨海默病或其他痴呆症；正在经历困难时期），医生和/或其他医疗保健专业人员是否应该与他们的患者谈论枪支和枪支安全？”在这六个情境中，76-89%的成年人表示，临床医生应该“有时”或“总是”与患者讨论枪支安全问题。这些发现表明，大多数居住在有枪支家庭的美国成年人认为，当患者或其家庭成员出现特定临床情况时，临床医生应该讨论枪支安全问题。临床医生和医疗保健系统担心在这些情况下患者可能会反对讨论枪支安全问题，这不应妨碍将这些干预措施纳入常规护理的努力。
