Presenter Profile
Adiva Sahar, MD
Pediatric Resident, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center & Children's Health Dallas
Social Media Committee Chair & Alumna, Trainees for Child Injury Prevention
adiva.sahar@utsouthwestern.edu
Instagram: @adiva_sahar
Adiva Sahar is a pediatric resident at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Children's Health in Dallas. She is passionate about child advocacy, injury prevention, and advancing health equity through education, research, and community engagement. Dr. Sahar is actively involved in national and state pediatric advocacy through organizations including Trainees for Child Injury Prevention and the Texas Pediatric Society. She is committed to integrating clinical care, advocacy, research, and education to improve the health and safety of children and their families.
Presentations
Evaluating a Firearm Injury Prevention Curriculum for Pediatric Trainees
Adiva Sahar, MD
Marisa Abbe, PhD
Firearm-related injuries are a major public health crisis in the United States, becoming the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in 2020. Despite this, firearm injury prevention education remains limited within medical training. Prior studies demonstrate that lack of knowledge, discomfort discussing firearm access, and uncertainty regarding counseling strategies are common barriers among trainees. Educational interventions have been associated with improved confidence and counseling practices. In response to these gaps, a firearm injury prevention curriculum was developed for pediatric trainees to improve knowledge, counseling comfort, and safe storage education skills.
A two-part firearm injury prevention curriculum was implemented for first-year pediatric residents during their Community Pediatrics rotation at a large academic medical center. The curriculum, developed in collaboration with the Texas Pediatric Society, included: (1) a didactic session reviewing firearm epidemiology, local and national injury statistics, principles of safe firearm storage, age-specific injury risks, and prevention strategies; and (2) interactive case-based scenarios in which participants alternated roles as physicians and caregivers to practice counseling techniques. Following each session, participants completed anonymous post-training surveys evaluating prior firearm education, perceived relevance of the curriculum, knowledge gained, and comfort discussing firearm safety. Data collected between 2021 and 2026 was analyzed using descriptive statistics.
A total of 211 participants completed the survey. Most participants were resident physicians (80%), followed by nurses and community health workers. Prior firearm injury prevention training was reported by 66 participants (31%), while 124 (59%) reported no prior formal education on the topic. Participants reported that an average of 62% of the workshop content was new information. Nearly all participants identified firearm safety counseling as highly important, and 210 participants (99.5%) agreed that counseling on safe firearm storage can help prevent unintentional firearm injuries.
Comfort discussing firearms in the home improved substantially following the workshop. Before the training, 83 participants (39%) reported feeling somewhat or very comfortable discussing firearms with families, compared with 195 participants (92%) after the workshop. Overall, 168 participants (80%) demonstrated increased comfort levels, while only 2 participants (<1%) reported decreased comfort. Additionally, 194 participants (92%) correctly identified recommended safe firearm storage practices, including storing firearms unloaded and locked with ammunition stored separately.
Implementation of a structured firearm injury prevention curriculum for pediatric trainees was feasible and associated with improved participant comfort and knowledge regarding firearm safety counseling and safe storage practices. Educational interventions such as this may help address critical gaps in physician preparedness and strengthen injury prevention efforts in pediatric healthcare settings.
1. Describe barriers to firearm injury prevention counseling among healthcare trainees.
2. Identify key components of an effective firearm injury prevention educational curriculum.
3. Evaluate the impact of firearm safety training on participant knowledge and counseling comfort.