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

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.