R. Radhakrishnan1, D. S. Tyler1 1University Of Texas Medical Branch,Surgery,Galveston, TX, USA
Introduction:
Identification of successful surgical residents remains a challenging endeavor for program directors (PD). PD’s must rely on conventional application information such as standardized tests, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, and short, unstructured interviews to help identify applicants who will perform well in residency. This approach has led to a national attrition rate in general surgery residencies of approximately 20% per year.
The Big 5 Personality traits (Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness to new ideas) and the Grit Scale have been extensively studied in many industries and have correlated with monetary and academic success in different fields. To date, the data are lacking on the use of these tests to identify successful surgery residents.
We hypothesized that personality testing using these two tests would provide useful additional information to identify successful surgery residents when compared with conventional application information alone.
Methods:
We performed a retrospective review of all categorical surgery residents (n=37) at the University of Texas Medical Branch from 2015-2017. Conventional application information was scored by a single observer using our standardized scoring system which factors in all aspects of the application. Based on their performance in residency, residents were classified by the PD into two categories: low performing (ACGME milestones < 25th percentile, remediation, or leaving program, n=13) or high performing (all others, n=24). Residents were then given personality tests. Next, our most recent resident applicant class (n=81) was ranked in NRMP using conventional application information based on our scoring system. During the application process, personality testing was administered to all applicants to our program. Correlation of personality and conventional scoring to final rank position was calculated. Student’s t-test and Pearson’s correlation were used with significance set at p < 0.05.
Results:
The Big 5 personality test identified significantly higher Extroversion, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability scores in high performers. There was no significant difference in STEP, ABSITE, Grit, or applicant scores. Our final rank list appears to correlate most closely with conventional data obtained from interviews and the ERAS application. Applicants with higher extroversion, conscientiousness, and emotional stability scores do not appear to be ranked higher using the conventional process alone.
Conclusion:
The Big 5 test may prove to be a useful adjunct to the traditional residency application in identifying high performing residents. Conventional interviews and ERAS application information alone may not identify potential high performing residents.
