Abstract Title: Addressing Training for Medical Students to Cope with Traumatic Situations Background: ‘Second victim phenomenon’ refers to feelings of guilt or failure following an unanticipated outcome or error. This phenomenon is prevalent in the medical field, with some articles stating that over half of healthcare workers experience a ‘second victim phenomenon’ at least once in their career. Within medical school curriculums, students learn to identify many diseases and disorders. Despite this extensive coverage, there remains a significant gap in preparing medical students for the inevitable trauma they will face as physicians. Methods: A systematic literature review was performed. Informal and small group discussions from professional meetings were conducted. We then created an IRB-approved survey to send to medical students of all four years at six MD/DO schools throughout Virginia. The survey is open for two weeks and includes questions that ask how prepared students feel to cope with traumatic events, whether their school currently has a curriculum that teaches healthy coping mechanisms, and whether they believe a formal curriculum should be implemented. Results: Our preliminary data revealed 86.1% of 2287 newly graduated residents in 2015 reported feeling comfortable presenting physical exams, and 92.3% felt prepared to take patient histories. Only 46.3% of these residents felt prepared to cope with death, and only 34.1% felt capable of managing their fatigue. In a 2019 study, 534 internal medicine residents were surveyed. 90% reported that they had never heard of ‘second victim phenomenon’ prior to the study. After learning what it was, 59% of these residents reported experiencing at least one or multiple ‘second victim’ events during their careers. 12% (n=287) either required more than a year to recover or never recovered. At a professional meeting in April 2024, several topic experts agreed that a curriculum is necessary, and one resident agreed that he and his colleagues have experienced ‘second victim phenomenon.’ Preliminary data from our survey is showing that 95.7% of medical students voted to include educational resources on healthy coping mechanisms during their time in school, with 60.9% of these students responding that they would prefer a mandatory course. Conclusion: This study aims to not only bring awareness to mental health challenges associated with a career in medicine but to also work with topic experts to implement a curriculum within medical schools. Addressing this issue is crucial, as the well-being of physicians directly impacts patient care. Providing students with a curriculum is a strong step forward in preparing physicians for the psychological demands of this profession.