The Surgical Personality: Does Surgery Resident Motivation Predict Attrition?

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Research
• Psychology
• Surgical Training

Background:

• General surgery residency attrition rates vary widely, with limited understanding of contributing factors.
• Motivational traits are hypothesized to influence resident persistence and completion of surgical training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare motivational traits between general surgery residents who completed training and those who did not.
• To investigate the role of the Behavior Inhibitory System/Behavior Approach System (BIS/BAS) in residency attrition.

Main Methods:

• Surveyed US general surgery interns (2007-2008) using the validated BIS/BAS motivational trait assessment tool.
• Utilized American Board of Surgery records (2008-2016) to determine residency completion status.
• Compared BIS/BAS subscale scores between residents who completed training and those who dropped out.

Main Results:

• No significant differences were found in BIS/BAS subscale scores between residents who completed training and those who did not.
• Men exhibited lower scores on BAS Drive and BAS Reward Response subscales compared to women.
• BAS Reward Response scores varied across different program types (academic, community, military).

Conclusions:

• Motivational personality traits, as measured by BIS/BAS, do not appear to be a differentiating factor in general surgery residency attrition.
• Despite strong drive and persistence, residents who drop out do not differ motivationally from those who complete training.