Developing an Injury Prevention Advocacy Program: Learning From the Experts

Abstract

While injury is the leading cause of death for children, unlike many other fatal disease states injury is also particularly amenable to prevention efforts to decrease its morbidity and mortality. Pediatric emergency medicine physicians have a particularly important vantage point from which to craft and deliver injury prevention interventions. Here we interviewed successful physician advocates in order to summarize collective wisdom for those interested in increasing their own advocacy work or simply wanting to best support those who are. Key themes included the importance of each of the following; clinical experience informing advocacy efforts, use of multiple streams of data to drive research, frequent reassessments of efforts, overcoming funding obstacles, combined interventions, building trust in the community, and learning from previous successes. In addition, experts offered specific advice for advocacy at the individual, community, and national level. All physicians should seek to include advocacy, or the support of advocacy efforts, in their own practice. By seeking out the wisdom of experts we can identify the methods most likely to be effective in changing behaviors and ultimately decrease the impact of injury on our pediatric patients.