Attrition and replacement of general surgery residents
Surgical Clinics of North AmericaPublished 1 December 2004
Thomas J. Leibrandt, Steven A. Fassler, Jon B. Morris
Citations22
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SJR score0.77
SNIP1.37
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TL;DR
Recruitment, characteristics, and success of residents who replaced those who left through attrition are reviewed and patterns of resident withdrawal from training in general surgery and other disciplines are compared.
Abstract
High rates of attrition from general surgery residency may threaten the surgical workforce. We sought to gain further insight regarding resident motivations for leaving general surgery residency.We conducted in-depth interviews to generate rich narrative data that explored individual experiences. An interdisciplinary team used the constant comparative method to analyze the data.Four themes characterized experiences of our 19 interviewees who left their residency program. Participants (1) felt an informal contract was breached when clinical duties were prioritized over education, (2) characterized a culture in which there was no safe space to share personal and programmatic concerns, (3) expressed a scarcity of role models who demonstrated better work–life balance, and (4) reported negative interactions with authority resulting in a profound loss of commitment.As general surgery graduate education continues to evolve, our findings may inform interventions and policies regarding programmatic changes to boost retention in surgical residency.
Keywords
Social SciencesMedicineHealth Professions
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