Use of an Electronic Referral Application to Address Post-Injury Needs of Victims of Firearm Injury in a Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program

Background: Wraparound referrals are a cornerstone of hospital-based violence intervention programs, which have proven to be an effective public health approach for mitigating violence and recidivism. We hypothesized that replacing a manual referral process with an electronic referral application would increase the number of generated referrals and improve compliance with follow-up visits. Study Design: The population for this single center quantitative study was a convenience sample of firearm-injured patients. Data from 74 patients were collected using the electronic health record, the electronic referral application, and the trauma registry before and after the intervention. Results: Post-implementation of the electronic referral application showed an increased number of generated referrals, increased emergency department and inpatient utilization of trauma recovery center services, and an increase in second follow-up visit compliance. Conclusion: This study demonstrated an increase in the number of referrals and greater likelihood of completion of post-injury follow-up visits after implementing the electronic referral system.