Mohammed F. Shaheen , Abdulrahman Y. Alhabeeb , Moustafa S. Alhamadh , Meshal A. Alothri , Rakan S. Aldusari
{"title":"Satisfaction and wellbeing of general surgery trainees in the Saudi Arabian residency educational environment: A mixed-methods study","authors":"Mohammed F. Shaheen , Abdulrahman Y. Alhabeeb , Moustafa S. Alhamadh , Meshal A. Alothri , Rakan S. Aldusari","doi":"10.1016/j.sopen.2024.06.011","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Surgical residency training is prominently demanding and stressful. This can affect the residents' wellbeing, work-life balance and increase the rates of burnout. We aimed to assess rates of satisfaction and burn-out among GS residents in the national training programs and provide a subsequent in-depth analysis of the potential reasons.</p></div><div><h3>Method</h3><p>A sequential explanatory mixed-methods study was conducted using an online survey and virtual interviews. The validated abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory (aMBI) was used to assess burnout while satisfaction was assessed via 5-points Likert scale.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>After excluding incomplete responses from the total 74 received, 53 were analyzed. The average participant age was 27.4 ± 2 years, with females comprising 52 % of the sample. Junior residents made up 58.5 %, and nearly half −45 %- considered quitting GS training. Moderate to high burnout rates were noted on each aMBI subscale, ranging from 41.7 % to 62.5 %. The majority of residents expressed dissatisfaction with the level of research engagement (81.1 %), supervision, and mentorship. However, operative exposure was a source of satisfaction. Dissatisfaction rates with intra-operative learning, academia, teaching, and clinical exposure were 62.3 %, 52.8 %, 50.9 %, and 35.8 %, respectively. Interviews revealed surgical case flow and a friendly work environment as major satisfaction sources. Conversely, lack of academic supervision and suboptimal hands-on training were major dissatisfaction sources.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Dissatisfaction and burn-out is prevalent among national GS training programs. Sub-optimal educational delivery and low-quality hands-on operative exposure -rather than lack of exposure to cases- seem to be the culprit.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":74892,"journal":{"name":"Surgery open science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589845024000976/pdfft?md5=70fbe7cb8b625d87a3ad79f333f49c28&pid=1-s2.0-S2589845024000976-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Surgery open science","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589845024000976","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"SURGERY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background
Surgical residency training is prominently demanding and stressful. This can affect the residents' wellbeing, work-life balance and increase the rates of burnout. We aimed to assess rates of satisfaction and burn-out among GS residents in the national training programs and provide a subsequent in-depth analysis of the potential reasons.
Method
A sequential explanatory mixed-methods study was conducted using an online survey and virtual interviews. The validated abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory (aMBI) was used to assess burnout while satisfaction was assessed via 5-points Likert scale.
Results
After excluding incomplete responses from the total 74 received, 53 were analyzed. The average participant age was 27.4 ± 2 years, with females comprising 52 % of the sample. Junior residents made up 58.5 %, and nearly half −45 %- considered quitting GS training. Moderate to high burnout rates were noted on each aMBI subscale, ranging from 41.7 % to 62.5 %. The majority of residents expressed dissatisfaction with the level of research engagement (81.1 %), supervision, and mentorship. However, operative exposure was a source of satisfaction. Dissatisfaction rates with intra-operative learning, academia, teaching, and clinical exposure were 62.3 %, 52.8 %, 50.9 %, and 35.8 %, respectively. Interviews revealed surgical case flow and a friendly work environment as major satisfaction sources. Conversely, lack of academic supervision and suboptimal hands-on training were major dissatisfaction sources.
Conclusion
Dissatisfaction and burn-out is prevalent among national GS training programs. Sub-optimal educational delivery and low-quality hands-on operative exposure -rather than lack of exposure to cases- seem to be the culprit.