The California Medical Association (CMA) has partnered with the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) BulletPoints Project on a free online course to help physicians and other health care providers reduce gun violence. The hour-long on-demand training teaches clinicians how to identify at-risk patients and how to intervene according to the type and level of risk of firearm violence.

Each year, nearly 50,000 people in the United States die from firearm-related injuries, and twice as many are treated in emergency departments for nonfatal firearm injuries. In recent years, during the COVID-19 pandemic, firearm sales have increased dramatically, as have some risk factors for self-harm and interpersonal violence. Talking to patients about firearm access and risk, when it’s clinically relevant, is as important now as ever. 

Most clinicians feel that preventing firearm injury is within their scope of practice, and patients are generally receptive to these conversations. But many clinicians report they do not routinely assess risk or counsel patients on this topic, often citing lack of education and training as a primary barrier. 

This on-demand course— Preventing Firearm Injury: What Clinicians Can Do— is taught By Amy Barnhorst, M.D., director of the BulletPoints Project and professor of psychiatry and emergency medicine at UC Davis. It focuses on several areas where clinicians can help reduce the risk of firearm-related injury and death, including suicide, dementia, intimate partner violence, unintentional injury, and mass shootings.

Dr. Barnhorst will introduce the 3A’s Framework (Approach, Assess, Act), designed to guide clinicians through the process of talking with patients about firearm injury prevention. Then she will guide you through three case studies that documents a clinician patient encounter in which the 3A’s framework is used to identify risk and work with the patient to reduce risk. Practicing the 3A’s will help clinicians build rapport with patients and develop realistic and acceptable plans to reduce their risk of firearm injury.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Describe the clinician’s role in preventing firearm injuries
• Identify patients at increased risk for firearm injury
• Engage in conversations about firearm injury prevention with patients
• Apply interventions appropriate to the level and type of risk

To take the course, click here.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of California Medical Association (CMA) and the BulletPoints Project. CMA is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

CMA designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. This enduring material was released July 19, 2022 and will expire on July 18, 2025.