"Sip & Share": Building Resilience in Surgery Residency Through Moral Distress Rounds

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Residency Training
• Bioethics

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for structured support for residents experiencing moral distress.
• General surgery residents often face ethical challenges, including navigating patient autonomy, beneficence, and non-maleficence.
• Existing non-technical skills curricula showed low resident satisfaction and comfort with ethical issues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate moral distress rounds for general surgery residents.
• To provide a safe space for discussing ethical challenges and fostering resilience.
• To improve residents' comfort with ethical decision-making and non-technical skills.

Main Methods:

• Institution of monthly "Sip & Share" sessions using a case-based, video-conferencing format.
• Structured discussions based on an eight-step methodology to explore moral distress and ethical tensions.
• Voluntary participation with pre- and post-intervention surveys to assess efficacy.

Main Results:

• Satisfaction with the non-technical skills curriculum increased from 36% to 70%.
• Comfort with navigating ethical issues rose from 62% to 72%.
• 93% of residents applied learned strategies, 77% reported stress mitigation, and all found value in the discussions.

Conclusions:

• Moral distress rounds offer a vital structured, safe environment for residents to process challenging experiences.
• These sessions enhance community, reduce isolation, and build a support network.
• Residents gain vocabulary for ethical dilemmas and practical strategies for conflict resolution.