The Good Surgeon: A Pilot Program for Flourishing in Surgical Residency

To create a parallel community, The Good Surgeon (GS) provides a space for residents to reimagine the meaning of their work, foster community with each other, and consider who they are becoming amidst their training.

Today's surgical residents struggle to sustain the ideals, awe, and joy that draw them to the profession. They report cynicism and struggle to see what they are striving for.

We organized 8 dinners and curated readings around key questions of practice and character in the life of a surgeon. In the fall of 2023, surgical residents at 2 university-based general surgery programs were invited to participate in GS. These participants were then invited to voluntarily participate in 3 semi-structured interviews to learn about their lived experiences in GS.

Twenty residents participated in GS between the 2 institutions, and 14 participated in the research component, with 11 participating in the final interview. Three major themes were identified through open coding of the interviews: connection and belonging, character and competence, and emotional exhaustion and flourishing. The residents reported that, because of GS, they had renewed hope, greater harmony between their values and their work, and ultimately felt more fulfillment.

Our results suggest that we can and should begin to create spaces in which surgical trainees might not only avoid the risks of moral injury and burnout but begin to walk together through the risks and rewards of surgical life with a vision toward flourishing-not just a successful surgical life but a good life.