Characteristics of role models who influenced medical residents to choose surgery as a specialty: exploratory study

Role modelling in professional identity formation: a systematic scoping review

BACKGROUND

Role modelling's pivotal part in the nurturing of a physician's professional identity remains poorly understood. To overcome these gaps, this review posits that as part of the mentoring spectrum, role modelling should be considered in tandem with mentoring, supervision, coaching, tutoring and advising. This provides a clinically relevant notion of role modelling whilst its effects upon a physician's thinking, practice and conduct may be visualised using the Ring Theory of Personhood (RToP).

METHODS

A Systematic Evidence Based Approach guided systematic scoping review was conducted on articles published between 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2021 in the PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, and ERIC databases. This review focused on the experiences of medical students and physicians in training (learners) given their similar exposure to training environments and practices.

RESULTS

12,201 articles were identified, 271 articles were evaluated, and 145 articles were included. Concurrent independent thematic and content analysis revealed five domains: existing theories, definitions, indications, characteristics, and the impact of role modelling upon the four rings of the RToP. This highlights dissonance between the introduced and regnant beliefs and spotlights the influence of the learner's narratives, cognitive base, clinical insight, contextual considerations and belief system on their ability to detect, address and adapt to role modelling experiences.

CONCLUSION

Role modelling's ability to introduce and integrate beliefs, values and principles into a physician's belief system underscores its effects upon professional identity formation. Yet, these effects depend on contextual, structural, cultural and organisational influences as well as tutor and learner characteristics and the nature of their learner-tutor relationship. The RToP allows appreciation of these variations on the efficacy of role modelling and may help direct personalised and longitudinal support for learners.

Twelve tips for surgeons to maximise medical student learning in the operating theatre

Theatre-based learning is an essential component of undergraduate surgical education and offers a wide range of learning opportunities. However, studies have demonstrated that medical students have not always benefited from this holistic learning environment due to many reasons, including intimidation, hierarchies within the surgical environment and fear of making mistakes. The lead surgical educator's approach is an important influence on the experience and learning of their medical students. These twelve tips are aimed at surgical educators with undergraduate teaching responsibilities. This guidance is based upon evidence from literature and established theories of teaching and learning, supplemented by qualitative interviews with surgeons and medical students. The resulting tips were checked and refined by surgical teaching fellows. These learner-centred tips provide guidance on thorough induction, managing mutual expectations and approaches that optimise teaching and learning in the operating theatre. They are designed to support surgical educators in improving their students' engagement and learning experiences in this setting.

Does Presence of role Models at Undergraduate Training Level Impact the Choice of Specialization as Maxillofacial Surgery for Young Women Dental Graduates?: Qualitative Study and Review Of Literature

INTRODUCTION

Even though dentistry is becoming a women-dominated profession, this is not translating into the choosing oral and maxillofacial surgery as a specialization. Hence, this study was undertaken to analyse factors impacting the choice of specialization and what impact does presence of role models as an intervention have on the attitudes of these young women on their overall career choice decisions.

PURPOSE

This qualitative study was undertaken with the aim of understanding and analyzing the impact of role models on the overall shift in attitude of young women graduate students towards oral and maxillofacial surgery as a specialty.

METHODS

Eleven women maxillofacial faculties from all over the country participated in this study conducted during the 2020 Pandemic. In this study, through the online teaching programme, the influence of women teaching faculties in the form of role models was statistically analysed on 103 attendees out of 140 who answered the survey questionnaire. The sessions were conducted on Zoom platform in the form of lectures of graduate course topics as defined by Dental Council of India. The overall attitudinal shift was then statistically analysed through Chi-square test.

RESULT

Out of 140 students, 103 students responded to the survey questionnaire. Responses of these students were statistically analysed with Chi-square test. The p value <.05 confirmed the hypothesis that presence of role models does have an impact on the choice of specialization.

CONCLUSION

The sample size of this was small and the period of follow-up was short, four months. In order to validate these results, larger cohort and longitudinal studies of long follow-up are needed. In spite of these drawbacks, the results of this study highlight, with the help of the literature, the important role a woman mentor positively plays in career choice and other aspects of women surgeon's professional life.

The Great Gamble? A Mixed-Methods Study of Factors In˜fluencing Medical Students in Specialty Choice

BACKGROUND

Career planning remains relatively unexplored as a domain of medical education. Our aim was to explore the career planning journey undertaken by medical students. Results Approximately one third of participants had decided their future specialty. Important factors in career choice were 'interest in specific [specialty] aspects,' 'work-life balance,' 'personality type' of others in the specialty, an enjoyable experience on rotation and role models. Negative influential factors included poor conduct of doctors encountered and negative portrayals of specialities by practicing doctors. Conclusion The undergraduate and early postgraduate periods are formative times in career planning for junior doctors. Students and interns/FY1s are strongly influenced by doctors in the clinical setting, and clinicians should be aware of this power to exert both positive and negative influence.

Surgical residents' challenges with the acquisition of surgical skills in operating rooms: A qualitative study

INTRODUCTION

Training in operating rooms is challenging. Specifically, surgical residents often experience a stressful environment in training arenas that, in turn, might affect their ability in the acquisition of the required qualifications. This study aims at the qualitative explanation of how the surgical residents acquire the surgical skills in operating rooms.

METHODS

This qualitative study was conducted in 2019-2020 using the conventional content analysis method. Participants were selected using purposive sampling. Data were collected through 25 semi-structured in-depth interviews. Then, the interview transcriptions were analyzed in MaxQDA2 software using the content analysis method.

RESULTS

The data were classified into two main categories, namely challenges/obstacles and strategies for dealing with the challenges. The data in the first category were further classified into four subcategories, including burnout, confusion in technique selection, unequal learning opportunities, ignorance, and responsibility misassignment. Similarly, four subcategories of establishing communication channels with chief residents and faculty members, learning by the non-surgeon pathway, covert progress in the learning path, and taking advantage of force from a position of power in the learning path were considered for the second category.

CONCLUSION

Based on the findings of the study, surgical residents face serious challenges and obstacles in their training course. To address these challenges, the curriculum of the surgical course needs to be improved with the emphasis on the balanced responsibility assignment and enhanced human communication.

A Surgeon Led Clinically Focused Anatomy Course Increases Student Selection of General Surgery As a Career

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to identify program-specific critical factors in a student's path to general surgery and how different factors contribute to our high rate of matriculation.

DESIGN

Semi-structured interviews were conducted focusing on critical factors in student's decision processes to pursue general surgery. Three investigators independently evaluated the transcripts and identified recurring themes based on phenomenological qualitative methods until saturation was achieved. Inter-rater reliability was determined.

SETTING

The study took place at Tulane University School of Medicine, an academic medical center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

PARTICIPANTS

Current fourth-year students from our medical school, applying into general surgery, were interviewed for the study.

RESULTS

Twelve of 21 students were interviewed. The most common factor cited was the positive effect of clinically based anatomy and of having surgeons in anatomy (81%). Other factors mentioned included interest before medical school, clerkship experience, and mentor interactions; Kappa was 0.76 or higher for each theme.

CONCLUSIONS

A clinically focused anatomy course led by surgeons at our institution has a significant impact on a general surgery career choice. With the constant evolution of the medical field, understanding what guides students toward a career in general surgery will better assist medical education planners in providing resources that will positively impact future classes.