Gun violence spreads like an infectious disease, new research finds Megan Thielking By Megan Thielking Jan. 3, 2017

https://www.statnews.com/2017/01/03/gun-violence-infectious/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_gXIiGSnf07e4rYxiKoMiprLV7CvrvuyjtiVBzWlpBpHGJAA7-DuTloAL5Pi7D_Ori2jcGlB01A8RYKA62-CHvZbMfCQ&_hsmi=303669506&utm_content=303669506&utm_source=hs_email Can hospital programs address the epidemic of gun violence? Gun violence is considered an epidemic in this country, and a public health crisis that medical students are trained to respond to. It spreads like an infectious disease, except while many non-Covid contagions were suppressed during the pandemic, gun violence surged. A new guide from Everytown for Gun Safety and the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention details a potential systematic way to help victims of gun violence: hospital-based violence intervention programs, or HVIPs. These programs connect survivors of gun violence with hospital staff who create individual plans for patients involving case management, counseling, crisis support, and other services outside of the hospital. In Baltimore, people who participated in an HVIP were six times less likely to be hospitalized for another violent injury two years after completing the program than those who didn’t, per the guide. But a literature review last year noted that, despite some evidence that HVIPs are beneficial, more and larger randomized controlled trials are needed.