Piloting a state-funded reporting and intervention system for youth firearm injury: Pennsylvania Injury Reporting and Intervention System (PIRIS)

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

4040.0: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 - 9:15 AM

Abstract #155281

Carol Thornton, MPA¹, Rose Cheney, PhD², Jeanne Ciocca³, Kate Fitzpatrick, RN, MSN, CRNP-BC⁴, Amy Goldberg, MD, FACS⁵, John Kelly, MD⁶, and Robert Ketterlinus, PhD³. (1) Violence and Injury Prevention Program, Pennsylvania Department of Health, Room 1008, Health & Welfare Building, 7th & Forster Streets, Harrisburg, PA 17120, 717-787-5900, cathornton@state.pa.us, (2) Firearm & Injury Center at Penn, University of Pennsylvania, 3440 Market Street, First Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19104, (3) Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, 260 South Broad Street, 18th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102, (4) Division of Traumatology & Surgical Critical Care, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, 2nd Floor Dulles Building, Philadelphia, PA 19104, (5) Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, Temple University Hospital, 3401 N. Broad Street, 1st Floor Park Ave. Pavilion, Philadelphia, PA 19140, (6) Department of Emergency Medicine, Albert Einstein Medical Center, 5501 Old York Road, Philadelphia, PA 19141

Firearm injury is the second leading cause of death among 15-24 year-olds in the US. For each person in this age group killed in a firearm-related assault, four more survive. In 2006, the Pennsylvania Department of Health launched the Pennsylvania Injury Reporting and Intervention System (PIRIS), a unique program to integrate injury surveillance with personalized, supervised interventions designed to aid recovery and reduce violence among youth ages 15-24.

The specific aims of PIRIS are to: 1) reduce the risk of recurring youth violence; 2) provide victims and their families with case management and other social and trauma-related services; and 3) provide community-based programs with information to better target, develop, and evaluate prevention activities. A study in Philadelphia, PA, is testing PIRIS implementation at three university-based trauma centers, community-based agencies, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, and the Pennsylvania Trauma System Foundation. Between April 2006 and January 2007, 111 gunshot victims and their families were referred to PIRIS (95% Black, 92% male, mean age 19.8). About 70% of the youth were relatively easy to engage in the program. Case managers worked with youth to identify needs: the most common needs were accessing medical insurance, transportation, and education and employment services. Case managers had the most difficulty linking participants to behavioral health services primarily because of insurance issues. A qualitative review of the operational components of this system examined the development of this pilot multi-system intervention for the victim and their families and a separate review examined issues relevant to expansion statewide.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

Identify firearm injury as a costly public health problem.
Describe how an injury tracking and intervention system can address youth violence.
Identify issues relevant to expanding this system statewide.

Keywords: Injury Risk, Violence Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Youth Violence Prevention and Interventions

The 135th APHA Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 3-7, 2007) of APHA