As emergency physicians, we are no strangers to firearm violence and its consequences. We explored this topic with renowned expert, Dr. Garen Wintemute, in our January 2019 episode, #thisismylane. Most physicians feel strongly that we have a role in gun violence prevention, but many of us aren’t sure what we can do in our daily clinical practice to make a difference. That’s why Psychiatrist Dr. Amy Barnhorst and her colleagues at the California Firearm Violence Research Center at UC Davis developed the BulletPoints Project. BulletPoints is a resource for clinicians and medical educators who are committed to firearm injury prevention. 

We’ve covered how to APPROACH patients about gun safety and ASSESS risk, now we learn how to ACT. In the final episode of our series, Dr. Barnhorst explains what we can do as physicians to help mitigate risk. We’ll talk about options, including temporary transfer of firearms to a safe party, psychiatric holds when appropriate, and “red flag” laws that allow for emergent removal of firearms in extremely high risk situations. 

Have you ever had a patient you felt was high risk intentional to accidental injury due to firearms? How did you act to reduce that risk? Tag us on social media, @empulsepodcast, reach out via email [email protected], or connect through our website, ucdavisem.com. Encourage your friends and colleagues to listen and share their perspective, too!

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Hosts:

Dr. Julia Magaña, Associate Professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UC Davis

Dr. Sarah Medeiros, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at UC Davis

Guest Host:

Dr. Jonathan Kohler, Associate Professor of Surgery and Medical Director of Pediatric Trauma at UC Davis; Host of Country Hits: Rural Trauma from the Scene to the ED

Guest:

Dr. Amy Barnhorst, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Vice Chair of Community Mental Health at UC Davis; Director of the BulletPoints Project

Resources:

The BulletPoints Project - Interventions

EM Pulse: Wraparound

California Firearm Violence Research Center (CA FVRC)

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Thank you to the UC Davis Department of Emergency Medicine for supporting this podcast and to Orlando Magaña at OM Productions for audio production services.