Forty-Three Medical and Injury Prevention Organizations and the American Bar Association Attend Inaugural Firearm Injury Prevention Summit

CHICAGO: On February 10–11, 43 professional medical and injury prevention organizations and the American Bar Association came together for the first-ever Medical Summit on Firearm Injury Prevention. Hosted by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (ACS COT), the Summit brought together national health care and legal leaders who have a compelling interest in reducing deaths, injuries, and disabilities from firearms. The attendees met to foster an inclusive and collegial dialogue on how to work together to identify opportunities for the medical community to reach a consensus-based, apolitical approach to firearm injury prevention focused on understanding and addressing the root causes of firearm violence while making firearm ownership as safe as possible.

Distinguished guest speakers from the fields of trauma surgery, emergency medicine, pediatrics, mental health, and community health addressed the breadth of issues that contribute to this escalating public health problem.

Summit attendees identified opportunities to collaborate in the areas of research, education, and targeted injury prevention initiatives. Using a public health framework, attendees engaged in collegial discussions to build consensus on actionable items for firearm injury prevention that the group could support as a unified voice.

As a next step, actionable items from the Summit will be compiled by the planning committee and will soon be brought to the attention of attendees for further internal consideration by their organizations.

Proceedings from the inaugural Medical Summit on Firearm Injury Prevention will be published and publicly released this spring.

For a list of attending organizations, visit https://www.facs.org/MFIPSummit2019.

Revised 2/21/19

About the American College of Surgeons

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has approximately 90,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. "FACS" designates that a surgeon is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

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