Carole Stipelman MD MPH Associate Professor of Pediatrics Physician Informatics Team Medical Director, University Pediatric Clinic Salt Lake City, Utah

Pediatricians Often Reluctant to Speak with Parents About Gun Safety

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Carole Stipelman MD MPH Associate Professor of Pediatrics Physician Informatics Team Medical Director, University Pediatric Clinic Salt Lake City, Utah

Dr. STIPELMAN

 

Carole Stipelman MD MPH
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Physician Informatics Team
Medical Director, University Pediatric Clinic
Salt Lake City, Utah

 

 

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? 

  • Guns are the second leading cause of death in children and adolescents.
  • 6 million children live in homes with at least one gun that is loaded and unlocked.
  • Safe storage of guns increases when physicians speak with parents about how to prevent children from having access to guns. However, these conversations happen infrequently.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?

  • Although the home-safety questions about guns and smoke alarms were next to each other in the electronic health record for well-child visits, pediatricians had substantially fewer conversations with parents about guns than smoke alarms.
  • After mass shootings, resident physicians had decreased conversations with parents about guns in the home. 

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

  • Physicians often are reluctant to speak with parents about gun safety.
  • Resident physicians have greater difficulty in having conversations about guns in the home.

 MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work? 

  • We need to develop curricula to teach pediatricians about how to discuss gun safety while preserving trust in the parent-pediatrician relationship.
  • The development of these curricula should be guided by the opinions of physicians and gun-owning parents about how to have effective conversations about gun safety in the home.

No disclosures 

Citation:

Stipelman CH, Stoddard G, Bata K, Muniyappa B, Trepman E, Smith E. Home Gun Safety Queries in Well-Child Visits. JAMA Pediatr. Published online October 28, 2019. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.3845 

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Last Updated on October 29, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD