Table 2.

Self-reported provider beliefs concerning lethal means restriction for suicide prevention, by provider type (n=631)

	Nurse		Physician		Total
	n	%	n	%	n	%
What proportion of suicides do you consider preventable?
All/most	128	42	148	46	276	44
Some/few	170	56	169	52	339	54
None	6	2.0	7	2.2	13	2.1
Each month in the U.S., over 1,000 people die by suicide using firearms. Had a firearm not been accessible to them, how many do you think would have found another way to die by suicide***
Few	4	1.3	14	4.3	18	2.9
Some	92	30	165	51	257	41
Most	165	54	124	38	289	46
All	40	13	18	5.5	58	9.2
Whose responsibility do you think it is to assess a patient’s access to firearms and other lethal means to commit suicide?
ED nurse	175	57	186	57	361	57
ED physician**	199	65	249	77	448	71
Psychiatric nurse*	218	71	206	63	424	67
Psychiatrist	257	84	270	83	527	84
Social Worker/Mental health counselor**	229	75	215	66	437	69
Other*	41	13	23	7.1	69	11
Whose responsibility do you think it is to counsel patients and their families to limit access to firearms and other lethal means to commit suicide?
ED nurse*	175	51	130	40	285	45
ED physician	183	60	201	62	384	61
Psychiatric nurse**	223	73	200	62	423	67
Psychiatrist	267	87	276	85	543	86
Social Worker/Mental health counselor**	235	77	214	66	449	71
Other	37	12	33	10	70	11
How often do you personally counsel patients or their families to remove or lock up any guns at home?***
Almost always	16	5.2	23	7.1	39	6.2
Often	17	5.6	48	15	65	10
Sometimes	51	17	95	29	146	23
Hardly ever	220	72	158	49	378	60

Legend.

Abbreviation: CI, Confidence Interval.

^*P<0.05,

^**P<0.01,

^***P<0.001 under Chi Square.

Numbers may not add to total or 100% because of missing data (not shown if <5%)