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Hard shell, soft core? Multi-disciplinary and multi-national insights into mental toughness among surgeons
Leonard Knoedler1,2, Jillian Dean3, Samuel Knoedler1
1Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.
Frontiers in Surgery
|April 22, 2024
Summary
Surgeons
Area of Science:
- Surgical performance and well-being
- Psychological resilience in medicine
Background:
- Surgeon burnout is a significant threat to healthcare.
- Mental toughness is crucial for surgical performance and patient safety.
- Limited research exists on mental toughness in a global, multi-specialty surgical context.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify factors contributing to mental toughness in surgeons.
- To examine the correlation between mental toughness and surgical outcomes.
- To assess the relationship between mental toughness and personal well-being.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional survey of 104 surgeons from English and German-speaking countries.
- Utilized the Mental Toughness Questionnaire (MTQ-18) and additional custom queries.
- Employed descriptive and inferential statistical analyses.
Main Results:
- Micro-surgeons demonstrated significantly higher mental toughness than macro-surgeons.
- Mental toughness positively correlated with career continuation intent and general life satisfaction.
- No significant correlation was found between psychological skill application and mental toughness.
Conclusions:
- Mental toughness in surgeons is influenced by specialty, professional dedication, and life satisfaction.
- Interventions to foster mental toughness may enhance surgical performance and reduce burnout.
- Further longitudinal research and resilience programs are recommended.
