ABSTRACT
Importance: Firearm violence is increasingly recognized as a public health issue, but whether physicians should intervene remains politically contested. Objective: To explore self-described patient perspectives about the appropriateness and acceptability of health care screening for firearms. Design, Setting, and Participants: This qualitative study recruited 50 adult patients from a primary care clinic in Chicago, Illinois, from June 7, 2019, to January 11, 2021, to participate in 1 of 12 one-time qualitative focus groups. Focus group discussions were facilitated using an in-depth, semistructured guide, transcribed verbatim from audio recordings, and analyzed for major themes using a pragmatic approach to basic thematic analysis, which is commonly used in implementation science, between December 12, 2019, and November 29, 2022. Main Outcomes and Measures: Patient perspectives of health care screening for firearms were evaluated to examine complexities of a practice change goal. Results: Participants were a median age of 60.0 (IQR, 50.5-66.5) years and predominantly female (37 [74%]; male, 11 [22%]; nonbinary, 1 [2%]; transgender, 1 [2%]) and non-Hispanic Black (42 [84%]; non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander, 2 [4%]; non-Hispanic White, 5 [10%]). Two-thirds (32 [64%]) of participants thought that health care screening for firearms was at least sometimes appropriate, recognizing clear benefits, for instance, among patients at risk for suicide. However, few (2 [4%]) had ever discussed firearms with a physician or other health care professional. Even among those who recognized benefits, several barriers to acceptability were described, especially related to bias, stigma, and increased risk for criminal legal involvement. Other major themes included insufficient time to address firearms during health care visits and doubts about a clinician's ability to intervene. Facilitators to acceptability included screening strategies that were patient centered, sensitive to racial bias, clinically efficient, and accompanied by tangible resources. Conclusions and Relevance: Incorporating these findings and emergent themes into clinical practice may guide efforts to make firearm screening more acceptable for patients from historically marginalized communities.
Subject(s)
Firearms , Physicians , Adult , Humans , Male , Female , Middle Aged , Aged , Violence , Delivery of Health Care , Primary Health CareABSTRACT
Lipoleiomyoma is a type of tumor usually found in the uterine corpus. The pathophysiology is unclear; however, it is commonly seen in obese perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. While intrauterine lipoleiomyoma may be surveilled, there is less information about the management of extrauterine lipoleiomyoma, especially significantly large tumors. This is a case involving a 51-year-old female who was incidentally found to have a 23-cm extrauterine lipoleiomyoma emanating from the peritoneum between uterosacral ligaments. She underwent hand-assisted laparoscopic removal of an intra-abdominal tumor, which was found to be an extrauterine lipoleiomyoma. Six months later, she was found to have a recurrent mass on a follow-up computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen and pelvis. She underwent a robotic-assisted total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and removal of the recurrent tumor. While the mass is benign in nature, the mass effect that it may cause prompts a discussion about the best course of management and an investigation into recurrence rates, specifically in similar extrauterine presentations.
