J. Felton1, S. Kidd-Romero1, N. Kubicki1, S. M. Kavic1 1University Of Maryland,Surgery,Baltimore, MD, USA
Introduction: Burnout, depression, and poor psychological well-being are pervasive among general surgery residents, and there is recent evidence to suggest that there are differences between male and female residents. We sought to describe and evaluate the gender differences in burnout, depression, and wellness among general surgery residents at a single institution.
Methods: We created a novel 50-question anonymous survey with Likert scales to assess burnout, depression, and wellness. This was distributed to the general surgery residents at two separate time points during the academic year, before and after the introduction of a wellness initiative, to evaluate for any differences. Bivariate analysis was performed to determine the association between gender and specific variables.
Results: Forty-two of 55 residents participated in the first survey. We found that women felt more satisfied by their work than men (p <0.01) and tended to exercise more often than men (p = 0.04). We also found that women tend to feel sad (p = 0.04) and feel anxious (p <0.01) more often than men. Furthermore, women tend to stress eat (p = 0.01) more often than men and have more alcoholic drinks per sitting (p = 0.02) than men. Finally, we found that women tend to think about death or suicide more often than their male counterparts (p = 0.04). Thirty-five residents participated in the second survey. In terms of self-view, more men had more positive days than negative days (p <0.01) compared to women. Women took more time to think, reflect, and meditate (p = 0.03). Again, we found that women tend to feel sad (p = 0.01) and feel anxious (p = 0.01) more often than men. In addition, we found that women tend to feel fatigued (p = 0.02) and experience stress headaches (p = 0.04) more often than men. Finally, we found that women make time to see people outside of the hospital more often than men (p = 0.06).
Conclusion: We found that there exist several significant differences between male and female general surgery residents at one academic institution. The reasons underlying these differences are not fully understood or elucidated. In the future, more investigation must be done, and general surgery residencies may need to create gender-based programs to address these differences.