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Public Health Fundamentals for an Effective Approach to Injury Prevention

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Hospital-based Injury and Violence Prevention Programs

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Abstract

While hospitals and trauma centers function under an acute care model (i.e., treat each individual patient’s injury or injuries one at a time), the greatest long-term successes to preventing injuries and violence have utilized a public health approach, which is designed to protect large groups of persons. This requires moving beyond considering individual treatment options to an “upstream approach” designed to prevent the incidents that cause the injuries. These may include socioeconomic inequity, structural racism, and national, state, and local policies that have denied educational pursuits, economic opportunities, and access to services across the health care continuum. To address the multiple issues that contribute to injuries and violence, a collaborative, comprehensive, multi-layered approach is essential. This chapter will introduce readers to public health frameworks and concepts that inform effective injury and violence prevention interventions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Safe States Alliance, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Shelli Stephens-Stidham

  2. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA

    Beverly Miller

  3. Arkansas Children’s, Little Rock, AR, USA

    Beverly Miller

Authors
  1. Shelli Stephens-Stidham
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  2. Beverly Miller
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Correspondence to Shelli Stephens-Stidham .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. UC Davis Health, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Christy Adams

  2. Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, University Hospitals, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Glen Tinkoff

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Stephens-Stidham, S., Miller, B. (2023). Public Health Fundamentals for an Effective Approach to Injury Prevention. In: Adams, C., Tinkoff, G. (eds) Hospital-based Injury and Violence Prevention Programs. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20357-2_2

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