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The role of nurses in firearm safety

The perspective and experience of nurses and the nursing organizations that serve them can contribute to the national conversation about gun violence and firearm safety

Firearm Injury Prevention and Patient Safety: Online Course

ED nurses often provide care for patients with known preventable injuries such as those caused by a firearm. To address this widespread phenomenon, ENA in partnership with American Academy of Pediatrics developed a package of educational offerings focused on strategies to improve safety in this patient population.

School Nurses Can Reduce Firearm Injuries and Deaths

The most effective approach to creating safe and supportive school environments requires a comprehensive, coordinated effort including school-wide, district-wide, and community-wide strategies. School nurses, healthcare partners embedded in school communities, can guide these efforts. This article reviews data on school located gun violence through a public health lens, as well as outlines a framework for levels of prevention, including downstream, midstream, and upstream strategies.

Effectiveness of Interventions to Promote Safe Firearm Storage

Seven clinic- and community-based studies published in 2000–2012 using counseling with or without safety device provision met the inclusion criteria. All 3 studies that provided a safety device significantly improved firearm storage practices, while 3 of 4 studies that provided no safety device failed to show an effect.

Firearm Violence by the Mentally Ill: Mental Health Professionals’ Perceptions and Practices

Findings have been summarized in the following categories: mental health professionals training, screening for the presence of firearms, engagement in firearm safety counseling, and perceptions regarding firearm violence in the United States. Mental health professionals need more training regarding firearm issues if they are going to play a role in reducing firearm trauma by the mentally ill. Their impact will be primarily on firearm suicides.