Research has estimated that approximately 50% of psychiatrists and 25% of psychologists will lose at least one patient to suicide over the duration of their careers; however, losing a patient to suicide is not an experience limited to mental health professionals. A large-scale study revealed that 64% of people who attempt suicide visit a doctor in the month prior to their attempt, with 38% presenting to a physician in the week leading up to their attempt. These visits most commonly occur in primary care and outpatient general medical settings versus mental health clinics. These losses have great emotional impact on the clinician: when clinicians have been surveyed about their experiences with patient suicide, they have reported intense levels of grief, guilt, inadequacy, anxiety, and depression. This distress can then lead to isolation and professional difficulties. Our overall goal in holding this biennial this symposium is to provide a structured, safe environment where practitioners and trainees from all disciplines of medicine obtain collegial support and education to reduce the stigma and fear surrounding patient suicide.

Key words: Motivation, Suicidal Ideation, Suicide, Social Stigma, Risk Assessment, Training Support, Mental Health, Emotions, Surveys and Questionnaires, Confidentiality

As an APA Approved Sponsor for Continuing Education, the Medical College of Wisconsin attests that this program has no:

• Commercial support for CE program, sponsor, or instructor (or any other relationship that could reasonably be construed as a conflict of interest)
• Commercial support for the content of instruction (e.g., research grants funding research findings etc.) that could be construed as a conflict of interest
• Commercial support or benefit for endorsement of products (e.g., books, training, drugs, etc.)