Citation

Goldstein EV, Prater LC, Bose-Brill S, Wickizer TM. Ann. Fam. Med. 2020; 18(3): 265-268.

Affiliation

Division of Health Services Management & Policy, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio wickizer.5@osu.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.)

DOI

10.1370/afm.2522

PMID

32393564

Abstract

Firearm suicide receives relatively little public attention in the United States, however, the United States is in the midst of a firearm suicide crisis. Most suicides are completed using a firearm. The age-adjusted firearm suicide rate increased 22.6% from 2005 to 2017, and globally the US firearm suicide rate is 8 times higher than the average firearm suicide rate of 22 other developed countries. The debate over how to solve the firearm suicide epidemic tends to focus on reducing the firearm supply or increasing access to behavioral health treatment. Ineffectual federal firearm control policies and inadequate behavioral health treatment access has heightened the need for primary care physicians to play a more meaningful role in firearm suicide prevention. We offer suggestions for how individual physicians and the collective medical community can take action to reduce mortality arising from firearm suicide and firearm deaths.

© 2020 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.

Language: en

Keywords

firearm suicide; gun violence; health policy; health policy research; physician practice