The Enneagram as a Tool for Resident Wellness and Correlation With Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Milestone Achievements

Abstract

Introduction: The Enneagram is an ancient personality typing system developed to improve self-knowledge. Broken down into nine personality types, each is driven by a core motivating factor. Other personality assessments have been used to study the personality profile of surgeons. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the variability in Enneagram type among a single institution's general surgery residents.

Methods: All categorical general surgery residents at a single institution completed an online Enneagram assessment as part of a wellness initiative. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education milestone levels for professionalism (PRO) and interpersonal and communication skills were collected for each resident's intern year. Milestone levels were compared between the nine Enneagram types.

Results: All nine Enneagram types were represented among surveyed residents. The most frequent Enneagram type was type 3 (20.69%). There was no significant difference between PRO (P = 0.322) and interpersonal and communication skills (P = 0.645) scores among residents distributed by Enneagram type.

Conclusions: Regardless of core Enneagram type, general surgery residents in this study all achieved appropriate Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education milestone levels for entry level of training. The Enneagram can provide self-awareness and understanding of resident differences but does not impact initial assessment of competency in PRO and interpersonal communication skills.

Keywords: Enneagram; Milestones; Personality type; Surgical education.