Reduce nonfatal firearm-related injuries — IVP‑14 Data Methodology and Measurement

A firearm-related injury is defined as a penetrating injury or gunshot wound from a weapon using a powder charge to fire a projectile. NEISS uses external cause of injury codes and follows guidelines consistent with coding guidelines in the ICD 9-CM. NEISS coders are given extensive training and report any gun-related injury cases in the emergency department record. Victims may also have other types of injuries, but if the incident involved a gun, it is included. Coders also attempt to capture data on intent, when appropriate information is provided in the medical record. Race data are not reported because they are not typically available from ED records. ED visit rates are calculated using the new bridged-race postcensal population estimates of the resident population of the United States for the data year involved. Population counts enumerated as of April 1st are used for census years (e.g., 2010). Population estimates as of July 1st are used for all other years. Intercensal population estimates are used in rate calculations for the years between censuses (e.g., 1991–1999, 2001–2009). Please note that postcensal population estimates for years after the last census are updated annually, which means that rates prior to the update may be different.