Can moral reasoning predict general surgery residents' clinical competence?

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Residency Training
• Professional Development

Background:

• Standard academic criteria have limited success in predicting resident clinical performance.
• Moral reasoning, assessed via the Defining Issues Test (DIT-2), has been linked to better clinical decision-making in prior studies.
• The current study investigates this link within surgical residency programs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if moral reasoning, measured by the DIT-2, correlates with clinical competence in surgery residents.
• To explore the relationship between moral development and clinical performance in a surgical training context.

Main Methods:

• Administered the DIT-2 to 20 surgical residents to assess moral reasoning levels.
• Collected faculty end-of-rotation evaluations to measure resident clinical competence.
• Analyzed 5 years of candidate rank list data alongside DIT-2 scores using correlation and regression analyses.

Main Results:

• A low correlation was found between DIT-2 scores and overall clinical competence.
• Rank list order showed a slight correlation with DIT-2 scores.
• Rank position combined with DIT-2 scores predicted 4 of 6 ACGME competencies and aggregated clinical competence scores.

Conclusions:

• No direct link was found between DIT-2 scores and clinical competence in this cohort.
• Potential limitations include small sample size and the reliability of evaluation methods.
• Further research with larger samples and improved performance measures is recommended.