From scut work to strategy: Why and how resident doctors can use cognitive crafting to stay in training

Across the globe, resident doctors, physicians in postgraduate training to become specialists, report high dissatisfaction, with many considering leaving training. A key driver is the growing burden of scut work- "mundane tasks" including repetitive administrative and routine clinical work, driven by legislation, staffing shortages, and workplace inefficiencies.

This study examines why and how cognitive crafting, thinking about mundane tasks as valuable for one's development as a doctor, may support retention in medical training.

Using survey data from 270 resident doctors in the United Kingdom, we tested hypotheses proposing that perceived job-role alignment and career progression self-efficacy mediate the negative relationship between understanding the value of mundane tasks and intentions to leave training. A supplemental analysis of 35 qualitative interviews further illuminated the mechanisms underlying these results.

The significant negative association between understanding the value of mundane tasks and intentions to leave training was fully mediated by perceived job-role alignment, as well as by a sequential pathway operating through perceived job-role alignment and then career progression self-efficacy. Qualitative findings suggest that doctors can view mundane tasks as valuable opportunities for relationship-building, socialization, and learning.

Our findings indicate that cognitive crafting may support resident doctors' retention by enhancing perceived job-role alignment and career progression self-efficacy.

Training programs could explicitly frame routine tasks as integral to professional development and support resident doctors in cognitively reframing them as meaningful work.