Addressing Professionalism, Social, and Communication Competencies in Surgical Residency Via Integrated Humanities Workshops: A Pilot Curriculum.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to conduct professionalism and social competencies (PSC) training by integrating humanities into structured workshops, and to assess reception of this curriculum by first-year surgical residents.

DESIGN: An IRB-approved, pilot curriculum consisting of 4 interactive workshops for surgical interns was developed. The workshops were scheduled quarterly, often in small group format, and supplemental readings were assigned. Humanities media utilized to illustrate PSC included survival scenarios, reflective writing, television portrayals, and social media. Emphasis was placed on recognizing personal values and experiences that influence judgment and decision-making, using social media responsibly, identifying and overcoming communication barriers related to generational changes in training (especially technology and work-life balance), and tackling stereotypes of surgeons. Anonymous and voluntary pre- and postcurriculum surveys were administered. Univariate analysis of responses was performed with JMP Pro v12 using Fisher's exact, χ2 , and Students' t-tests for categorical and continuous variables.

SETTING: The study took place at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, OH, within the general surgery program.

PARTICIPANTS: Surgical interns at the Cleveland Clinic were included in the study. A total of 16 surgical interns completed the curriculum.

RESULTS: Sixteen surgical interns participated in the curriculum: 69% were domestic medical school graduates (DG) and 31% were international medical school graduates (IMG). Overall, the majority (81%) of residents had received PSC courses during medical school: 100% of DG compared to 40% of IMG (p = 0.02). Before beginning the curriculum, 86% responded that additional PSC training would be useful during residency, which increased to 94% upon completion (p = 0.58). Mean number of responses supporting the usefulness of PSC training increased from 1.5 ± 0.2 before the curriculum to 1.75 ± 0.2 upon completion (p = 0.4). When describing public and medical student perceptions of surgeons, 60% and 83% of adjectives used were negative, respectively. When describing perceptions of female surgeons, 88% of adjectives used were negative.

CONCLUSIONS: Most interns received prior PSC coursework; however, the majority still desired additional training during residency. After completion, a greater percentage of interns responded that PSC training was important and choose more reasons in favor of the curriculum. Formalized didactics should be strongly considered, especially in programs with IMG. Future areas of investigation include expanding the cohort to additional years of residency; potentially identifying unique PSC needs for each postgraduate year.