How Applicants to General Surgery Residency Define Resilience

Resilience is a vital quality for the successful completion of any residency training program. Resilience is a commonly used but poorly understood term and is defined in multiple ways by people during different times of their lives. The transition from medical student to general surgical resident (GSR) is one of the most formative times in a young surgeon's professional career. The purpose of this study is to determine how a cohort of aspiring surgical residents define resilience.

This is a qualitative study where interviews were conducted prospective GSRs over 2 application seasons. During the institution's standard interview process, applicants were asked to provide a definition of resilience. Responses were documented. Qualitative content analysis was conducted by the research team. Initial codes were developed and defined. Research team members independently coded the responses, and then an iterative group consensus process was used to develop the final themes.

This study was conducted at Geisinger Medical Center, an academic tertiary care hospital in Danville, PA with 5 categorical GSR positions per year.

All applicants who underwent an in-person interview were included in this study.

A total of 261 comments about resilience were available from 117 interviews. These responses were categorized into 5 themes: support, learning from failure, adaptability, self-reflection, and perseverance.

Resilience as defined by applicants to a general surgery residency program is a multifaceted term. The thematic categories suggest that resilience can be viewed through the framework of the 5 components of emotional intelligence: self-aware, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.