Few doctors talk to patients about guns; experts say they want that to change [vcstar.com]

By Cheri Carlson, VC Star, June 15, 2019.

Doctors and other health care providers often feel that they have a role in preventing firearm injury. But few talk to their patients about the risks.

That’s what a group of physicians and researchers say prompted them to try to help.

This month, a clinical guide to recognize patients' risk of firearm injury was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine’s “In the Clinic” series. Its authors came from the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program, Brown University, the University of Colorado and Stanford.

One of the biggest barriers for doctors seemed to be time, said Rocco Pallin, a researcher with the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program. 

"I think that we've tried to emphasize that we're not advocating for universal counseling," she said. "We really want providers to be aware of the risk factors and to counsel based on recognized risk rather than talk with every patient they ever see."

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