The Relation of Grit and Surgical Specialty Interest Among Medical Students

Abstract

Objective: The assessment of Grit among medical students applying to surgical residency programs may be useful, but the relationship between student Grit and surgical specialty interest is not clear. This study investigated whether medical student Grit differs based on interest in direct-entry surgical specialties.

Design: A literature search informed the development of a cross-sectional study assessing medical student ratings of the validated 6-item Short-Grit scale. Medical students also indicated their career preferences.

Setting: Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada; a tertiary medical center.

Participants: Surgical specialty interest and Grittiness were assessed among 297 (50.4%) pre-clerkship medical students in their first or second year of training. Data was collected from program applicants over 4 years.

Results: Medical students had high levels of Grit (M = 4.029, SD = 0.517). There was a significant difference in Grit level between medical students interested in cardiac surgery ([M = 4.197, SD = 0.471 vs M = 3.919, 0.518]; t(295) = 4.674, p < 0.001; Cohen's D = 0.556), general surgery ([M = 4.178, SD = 0.466 vs M = 3.916, 0.527]; t(295) = 4.434, p < 0.001; Cohen's D = 0.520), neurosurgery ([M = 4.238, SD = 0.457 vs M = 3.950, 0.518]; t(295) = 4.412, p < 0.001; Cohen's D = 0.575), plastic surgery ([M = 4.138, SD = 0.497 vs M = 3.967, 0.520]; t(295) = 2.747, p = 0.006; Cohen's D = 0.333), and vascular surgery (M = 4.248, SD = 0.368 vs M = 3.948, 0.541); t(295) = 4.570, p < 0.001; Cohen's D = 0.501).

Conclusions: Medical students with a career interest in "poor lifestyle" surgical specialties have higher Grit than their peers. These findings may be noteworthy for surgical residency programs with high rates of attrition and burnout.

Keywords: career choice; general surgery; internship and residency; medical students; personality; thoracic surgery.