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A Randomized Controlled Trial on Teaching the Safe Handling of Firearms Using a Simulation-Based Assessment
Jake Hoyne1, Jennifer Yee, Charles Lei
1From the Department of Emergency Medicine (J.K., A.V.G., N.D.), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Department of Emergency Medicine (J.Y., S.L.-S.), The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; Department of Emergency Medicine (C.L., M.P.), Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN; BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine (W.B.), University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI; Department of Medicine (N.O.), Section of Emergency Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL; and Department of Emergency Medicine (A.R.K.), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL.
A brief educational intervention significantly improved emergency medicine residents' ability to safely remove firearms from clinical settings. This training is effective for improving firearm safety protocols in emergency departments.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Emergency Medicine
- Firearm Safety
Background:
- Emergency department providers face risks from encountering firearms.
- Lack of provider familiarity with firearm handling poses safety concerns.
- Untrained providers attempting firearm removal may create unsafe situations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the efficacy of an educational intervention for training resident physicians in safe firearm removal.
- To improve provider confidence and competence in handling firearms in clinical settings.
Main Methods:
- A single-blinded randomized controlled trial was conducted across five emergency medicine residency programs.
- Participants received a 5-minute educational video on safe firearm removal principles.
- Performance was evaluated during simulated patient encounters assessing critical actions for firearm removal.
Main Results:
- The intervention group demonstrated significantly better performance in completing critical actions compared to the control group (median 7 vs. 6 actions, P = 0.035).
- This improvement was observed even among participants with prior firearm experience.
- No significant baseline differences were noted between the intervention and control groups.
Conclusions:
- A brief educational intervention effectively improved residents' ability to safely remove firearms in a simulated clinical environment.
- This training approach can be readily integrated into existing medical curricula.
- The findings suggest broad applicability for enhancing firearm safety in emergency medicine.
