Gun Violence is a Public Health Crisis and as Hospitalists, It ’ s Time to Step Up

I did not think that becoming a pediatric hospitalist would require me to become an expert in firearm injury, but here I am. Every day more than 300 people are shot in the United States.1,2 That fact alone has forced me and every other hospitalist in the country to learn how to care for individuals with firearm injuries. But learning how to care for these patients is not enough. Firearm injuries are preventable, and we must use our expertise to help create a safer world for our patients and our communities. Gun violence is a public health crisis and we, as hospitalists, are not only qualified to advocate for change, we are obligated. According to data recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were more than 45,222 firearm-related deaths in the United States in 2020. This equates to roughly 124 people being shot and killed every single day.1,2 This is the largest number of people killed by firearms in a single year on record. These numbers represent a 14% increase from 2019, and a 43% percent increase from 2010.2  When accounting for the growth in the population, the 2020 death rate was 13.6 per 100,000 people, which is lower than the peak of 16.3 per 100,000 in 1974, but still the highest we have seen since the mid-1990s.2,3 And, for the first time ever, firearm injury has surpassed motor vehicle accidents as the number one cause of death in children.4   These statistics are horrifying in and of themselves, but they do not begin to ref...
Source: The Hospitalist - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Tags: Advocacy Business of Medicine Career Clinical Guidelines Critical Care Education Health Policy Hospital Medicine Leadership Practice Management Quality Improvement Source Type: research