Satisfaction and wellbeing of general surgery trainees in the Saudi Arabian residency educational environment: A mixed-methods study

• Published in: Surgery open science 2024-08, Vol.20, p.178-183
• Main Authors: Shaheen, Mohammed F., Alhabeeb, Abdulrahman Y., Alhamadh, Moustafa S., Alothri, Meshal A., Aldusari, Rakan S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Burnout; General surgery; Research Paper; Residency program; Satisfaction; Surgical education
• ISSN: 2589-8450; 2589-8450
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sopen.2024.06.011

Surgical residency training is prominently demanding and stressful. This can affect the residents' wellbeing, work-life balance and increase the rates of burnout. We aimed to assess rates of satisfaction and burn-out among GS residents in the national training programs and provide a subsequent in-depth analysis of the potential reasons. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods study was conducted using an online survey and virtual interviews. The validated abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory (aMBI) was used to assess burnout while satisfaction was assessed via 5-points Likert scale. After excluding incomplete responses from the total 74 received, 53 were analyzed. The average participant age was 27.4 ± 2 years, with females comprising 52 % of the sample. Junior residents made up 58.5 %, and nearly half −45 %- considered quitting GS training. Moderate to high burnout rates were noted on each aMBI subscale, ranging from 41.7 % to 62.5 %. The majority of residents expressed dissatisfaction with the level of research engagement (81.1 %), supervision, and mentorship. However, operative exposure was a source of satisfaction. Dissatisfaction rates with intra-operative learning, academia, teaching, and clinical exposure were 62.3 %, 52.8 %, 50.9 %, and 35.8 %, respectively. Interviews revealed surgical case flow and a friendly work environment as major satisfaction sources. Conversely, lack of academic supervision and suboptimal hands-on training were major dissatisfaction sources. Dissatisfaction and burn-out is prevalent among national GS training programs. Sub-optimal educational delivery and low-quality hands-on operative exposure -rather than lack of exposure to cases- seem to be the culprit.