Role of the Emergency Physician in Injury Prevention and Control for Adult and Pediatric Patients

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) believes that as frontline physicians providing care for acutely injured adult and pediatric patients, emergency physicians are keenly aware of the associated consequences, both physical and emotional, to the patient, their family, and their community. This unique insight provides emergency physicians an opportunity to be leaders in injury prevention research, policy, and patient and provider education. Therefore, ACEP affirms the following:

• Emergency physicians should lead injury prevention research. Research is the cornerstone of our evidence-based practice and informs our ability to advocate for injury prevention interventions and provides meaningful information to our patients and trainees.
• Emergency physicians should advocate for evidence-based injury prevention policies in a non-partisan fashion. It is our responsibility as a College to advocate for our patients, ensuring that they are able to benefit from well-crafted, data-driven injury prevention policies.
• Emergency physicians have both the right and responsibility to provide injury prevention counseling and education to their patients, families and communities in a respectful and evidence-based manner.
• Our role as educators includes teaching the next generation of emergency physicians, and other allied health professionals about injury prevention. Therefore, we must support the development of leaders in the fields of injury prevention research, advocacy and education.