Psychiatrists are expected to possess core competencies in suicide risk assessment & in evidence-based psychiatry. The author asserts clinical experience alone is usually insufficient to support a competent suicide risk assessment. Clinical experience can be augumented with evidence-based psychiatry, the evaluation of protective factors, the unique & distinctive patient risk & protective factors for which no evidence base exists, e.g. a cherished pet, & identification of clinical patterns of prodromal signs & symptoms of escalating risk. (19 refs.)