The Effects of an Electronic Medical Record Prompt on Documentation of Firearm Screening in and Adolescent Primary Care Setting

Purpose: There is limited evidence as to how to facilitate health care providers (HCPs) addressing firearm injury prevention during routine visits. The purpose of this project was to examine whether including a screening question about firearms in the home in the routine care template increases the screening of youth access to firearms. Methods: A pre-post approach chart review was conducted for youth 12-21 years old. Outcomes included HCP documentation of screening for the presence of firearms and whether counseling caregivers on safer storage practices was delivered. Results: HCPs documented screening adolescents for firearms 85% after the addition of the prompt compared to 25% prior to the change (p p < .001). The presence of the screening prompt also led to an increase in the delivery of safe storage counseling (p p 1 / 4 .035). Discussion: Altering the EMR template increased HCP documentation of the presence of firearms in the home while also increasing firearminjury prevention counseling delivered to caregivers.