TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2024//
TI  - Emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians' views on EMS-delivered interventions to promote secure firearm storage practices
JO  - Suicide and life-threatening behavior
A1  - Stanley, Ian H.
A1  - Hom, Melanie A.
A1  - Wright, Angela
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - INTRODUCTION: Lethal means safety counseling (LMSC) to promote secure firearm storage may reduce the risk of firearm-involved deaths, including suicide. We examined if emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians, including emergency medical technicians and paramedics, may be suitable LMSC messengers. <br><br>METHOD: We conducted a web-based survey of 229 US EMS clinicians. <br><br>RESULTS: While few EMS clinicians supported EMS-delivered LMSC to all patients (17.0%), most supported EMS-delivered LMSC to patients in an acute suicidal crisis (64.2%) or with a known suicide attempt history (55.9%). Barriers to EMS-delivered LMSC included lack of training (73.4%), perceptions that LMSC is outside EMS clinicians' scope of practice (58.1%), and lack of standard operating procedures (56.3%). Most reported at least some interest in receiving training on EMS-delivered LMSC (67.7%). Participants holding more accurate beliefs about the link between firearm storage practices and suicide risk, as well as the efficacy of LMSC, were more likely to support EMS-delivered LMSC across patient scenarios (ORs = 2.18-5.21, ps <0.01) and express interest in receiving LMSC training (ORs = 3.78-5.43, ps <0.001). <br><br>CONCLUSION: Given that many EMS clinicians interface with patients at elevated suicide risk, targeted LMSC training may be strategic; however, research is needed to determine if and how EMS clinicians might be viable LMSC messengers.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0363-0234
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/sltb.13005
ID  - ref1
ER  -