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Review
. 2020 Oct 16;21(6):132-140.
doi: 10.5811/westjem.2020.8.45041.

A Case for Risk Stratification in Survivors of Firearm and Interpersonal Violence in the Urban Environment

Garth N Walker  1 , Annette M Dekker  2 , David A Hampton  3 , Adesuwa Akhetuamhen  1 , P Quincy Moore  4
Affiliations
Review

A Case for Risk Stratification in Survivors of Firearm and Interpersonal Violence in the Urban Environment

Garth N Walker et al. West J Emerg Med. .

Abstract

The emergency department (ED) serves as the main source of care for patients who are victims of interpersonal violence. As a result, emergency physicians across the nation are at the forefront of delivering care and determining dispositions for many at-risk patients in a dynamic healthcare environment. In the majority of cases, survivors of interpersonal violence are treated and discharged based on the physical implications of the injury without consideration for risk of reinjury and the structural drivers that may be at play. Some exceptions may exist at institutions with hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs). At these institutions, disposition decisions often include consideration of a patient's risk for repeat exposure to violence. Ideally, HVIP services would be available to all survivors of interpersonal violence, but a variety of current constraints limit availability. Here we offer a scoping review of HVIPs and our perspective on how risk-stratification could help emergency physicians determine which patients will benefit most from HVIP services and potentially reduce re-injury secondary to interpersonal violence.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: By the WestJEM article submission agreement, all authors are required to disclose all affiliations, funding sources and financial or management relationships that could be perceived as potential sources of bias. No author has professional or financial relationships with any companies that are relevant to this study. This work was supported by NIH grant number: 1T37MD014248-01.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The PRIMSA diagram details our search and selection process applied during the overview. ED, emergency department.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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