Medical Student Firearm Safety Counseling Follow-Up Study

Study Summary

The preclinical curriculum related to firearm violence and safety counseling at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM) has been expanded for the Class of 2027, informed by the results and conclusions of an initial study of firearm safety counseling by medical students (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT05242627), which was conducted by the present study team. The 1-hour firearm safety counseling training session used in that study will be taught again to first-year medical students in the Class of 2027, but training will be augmented with additional instruction; the Class will receive additional comprehensive instruction on suicide risk assessment and will participate in small group breakout sessions, to facilitate the opportunity for students to discuss issues related to firearm violence as a public health issue and to practice firearm safety counseling with standardized patient actors (SPs). Assessment of access to firearms and firearm safety counseling will be added as a standard component of the Social History that students are taught to obtain from patients during clinical examinations. The goal of the expanded training is to increase the prevalence of medical student counseling when they are conducting a history and physical examination in a simulated patient encounter with an SP 6 months after the initial training session, when compared to results from the initial study. The scenario provided to the SP will be identical to that used in the initial study and is a situation in which firearm safety counseling is warranted. Students will participate in a survey to ascertain their knowledge of firearm violence and their attitudes about physician counseling about firearm safety, prior to formal instruction. Informed consent will be obtained from students to use their responses in educational research. Following the didactic and small group sessions, students will be asked to complete a post-training survey that is similar to the original survey, as a means of as

Primary Outcome

The proportion of first-year medical students in the Class of 2027 who assess for access to firearms and counsel about firearm safety in a simulated patient encounter will be based on reporting by the simulated patient actor after the activity, for students who consent to use of data from the activity for educational research.

Interventions

• BEHAVIORAL Expanded Clinical Firearm Safety Counseling Training