Patients of gun violence vs others

[vetpharmtech]

In light of recent shooting incidents, I feel like if there is anyone who can have the most influence on the gun issue, you guys are because you are directly involved with patients.

In your experience, how many patients you usually take care of are victims of gun violence? Are there more or less of them compared to victims of natural causes, traffic accidents, and domestic violence?

Thank you, everyone.

[Subee2, BSN, MSN, CRNA]

Just wondering....how many gunshot victims never make it to the ER so we wouldn't see them anyway. With the high velocity weapons, bullets don't go through you, they just explode inside so these injuries are much tougher to survive.

[PeakRN]

1 hour ago, adventure_rn said:

I'd actually be curious to hear this same question posed to EMS or police officers; I feel like they'd probably see an even higher proportion of gun violence victims than nursing (since the trauma in the ED is diluted out by the huge proportion of non-trauma ED cases like heart attacks, strokes, pain, etc.)

When I was in the fire service I only had one GSW, and it as a self inflicted by a senior citizen.

As much as the ED functions as somewhat of a BS filter for the hospital, the same is true of EMS for the ED.

[PeakRN]

53 minutes ago, Undercat said:

Just wondering....how many gunshot victims never make it to the ER so we wouldn't see them anyway. With the high velocity weapons, bullets don't go through you, they just explode inside so these injuries are much tougher to survive.

That's not the way that works. Bullet construction plays a large role, but even thinks like hollow points require a large terminal velocity. Hollow points that do have sufficient velocity don't always expand, the tip can become clogged with clothing and then essentially have the terminal ballistics of an FMJ bullet.

The majority of gun crime isn't with 'high velocity weapons' but rather cheap (read: low quality) handguns by gang members.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Yep... I saw plenty of through-and-through GSW wounds in Afghanistan, many inflicted with AK-47s.

[Subee2, BSN, MSN, CRNA]

Wounds caused by Hand Guns

Comparatively speaking hand guns create wounds that have a small temporary cavity, a direct path of destruction with minimal lateral extension. Typically, the amount of kinetic energy lost in the tissue is insufficient to cause remote injury typical of high muzzle velocity weapons.