There's a simple, focused intervention for health care providers to help prevent firearm injury and death.
Preventing Firearm-Related Injury and Death
Our new educational video prepares providers to assess risk, ask about access to firearms, and counsel on safe firearm practices when indicated.
Providers can earn AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ for this video course.
About the Initiative
What You Can Do is a prevention initiative mobilizing health care providers to engage in clinical strategies for reducing firearm injury and death.
Although a majority of providers feel it is within their responsibilities to identify risk for firearm injury and death and to talk with at-risk patients about firearm safety, few do so in practice. These resources are here to help providers get comfortable identifying risk and talking about firearms with patients when clinically relevant.
Questions or Comments?
If you have questions or comments for our team about the What You Can Do resources or need more information, please get in touch with us by sending an email to hs-WYCD@ucdavis.edu.
In 2017, an average of 109 people in the U.S. died from firearms each day.
Explore the dataMass shootings account for only 1% to 2% of deaths from firearms in the U.S.
More on firearm deathsMany people injured by firearms have recognizable risk factors, some of which bring them into contact with health care providers before the injury happens.
Identifying risk
"A critically important and beneficial action"
Dr. Garen Wintemute's commentary, "What You Can Do to Stop Firearm Violence," discusses what health care providers can do now to prevent firearm-related injury and death among the patients with whom they interact every day.
Thanks to
Annals of Internal Medicine for its attention to firearm violence and for hosting the What You Can Do commitment.
Cathy Barber, Dr. Amy Barnhorst, Dr. Rinad Beidas, Dr. Emmy Betz, Jacquelyn Clark, Dr. Megan Ranney, and Dr. Michael Victoroff, for their expert contributions to the What You Can Do project.
The Massachusetts Medical Society and the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Firearm Safety Among Children and Teens (FACTS) Consortium for their generosity in sharing existing materials and resources on prevention of firearm injury and death.
The UC Davis Center for Design in the Public Interest for its partnership in developing the What You Can Do educational handouts for patients and providers.