Firearm injury: a public health problem

Abstract

This research's objective was to outline the epidemiological profile of firearm injury victims attended in the emergency unit of a university hospital in 2007. It aimed as well to characterize pre and intra hospital care. It is a cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach. The sample consisted of 98 patients. The majority of victims presented a single firearm injury, were young, male, single, from the city of Londrina, Paraná. The injury main cause was robbery. The ambulances of the Trauma and Emergency Care Integrated System (in Portuguese, SIATE) were the most employed means of transportation and the main provider of pre-hospital care. The most common pre and intra-hospital care procedures were dressing, immobilization and fluid replacement, respectively. Prolonged hospitalization, need for intensive care and surgery as well as injury related disabilities and deaths occurred. The epidemiology of firearms injuries must be better understood although its control depends on interventions that are outside the healthcare scope