Lauren Magee
Assistant ProfessorCriminal Justice
ude[dot]ui[at]eegamal
Identifying Victims of Firearm Injury and Examining Clinical Care Utilization
Firearm violence is a leading public health issue because of its significant mortality and morbidity, yet we know little about the correlates and clinical precursors of nonfatal firearm injury. This interdisciplinary project linked police and clinical care system data to examine nonfatal firearm injury events and to assess clinical care use patterns, clinical diagnoses, and other contextual measures preceding nonfatal firearm injury. Current findings indicate nonfatal firearm injuries are difficult to capture and largely under-counted in clinical data systems. Linking police and clinical data at the individual level provides for better surveillance data in the study of nonfatal firearm injuries. Furthermore, police-public health partnerships can improve data collection, can better direct policies and initiatives, identify opportunities for intervention prior to firearm injury, and consequently help interrupt the cycle of violence. This work has been disseminated through conferences and is currently under review at academic public health journals.