ArticlePloS one2015
Surgeons' Emotional Experience of Their Everyday Practice - A Qualitative Study.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Second victim syndrome in surgeons: systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of adverse events on surgeons.The British journal of surgery · 2025Pooled it
- Physicians' Perspectives About Burnout: a Systematic Review and Metasynthesis.Journal of general internal medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Unseen wounds: a multinational investigation of neurointerventionalists on the psychological toll of complications.Journal of neurointerventional surgery · 2026Article
- Surgeons' Experiences After Surgical Errors: Insights From a Urology Department.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Cultural differences in attitudes towards surgical site infections among French anesthetists and surgeons in digestive surgery in 2022.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2025Article
- How Surgeons and Surgical Leaders Manage Complications, Medical Errors, Malpractice, and Second Victim Syndrome.Journal of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America · 2025Article
- Beyond the operating room: addressing the "second-victim" phenomenon in surgical practice.European journal of medical research · 2024Review
- Intraoperative adverse events among surgeons in Singapore: a multicentre cross-sectional study on impact and support.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Burnout Among Saudi Radiographers.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2024Article
- Exploring a Masters of Business Administration's Impact on Surgical Subspecialists.Orthopedic reviews · 2024Article
- Review
- Identifying Key Factors for Burnout Among Orthopedic Surgeons Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process Method.International journal of public health · 2023Review
- Determinants and barriers to junior faculty well-being at a large quaternary academic medical center: A qualitative survey.Surgery · 2022Article
- Why non-technical skills matter in surgery. New paradigms for surgical leaders.Discover health systems · 2022Article
- Defining Major Surgery: A Delphi Consensus Among European Surgical Association (ESA) Members.World journal of surgery · 2020Article
- Spine neurosurgeons facing the judicialization of their profession: disenchantment and alteration of daily practice-a qualitative study.Acta neurochirurgica · 2020Article
- Factors Associated With the Mental Health and Satisfaction of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residents in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Study and Analysis.Journal of oral and maxillofacial surgery : official journal of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons · 2019Article
- Surgeons are deeply affected when patients are diagnosed with prosthetic joint infection.PloS one · 2018Article
- Barriers, facilitators, and survival strategies for GPs seeking treatment for distress: a qualitative study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPhysicians' emotions affect both patient care and personal well-being. Surgeons appear at particularly high risk, as evidenced by the high rate of burnout and the alarming consequences in both their personal lives and professional behavior. The aim of this qualitative study is to explore the emotional experiences of surgeons and their impact on their surgical practice. METHODS AND
findings27 purposively selected liver and pancreatic surgeons from 10 teaching hospitals (23 men, 4 women) participated. Inclusion took place until data saturation was reached. Data were collected through individual interviews and thematically analyzed independently by 3 researchers (a psychologist, a psychiatrist, and a surgeon). 7 themes emerged from the analysis, categorized in 3 main or superordinate themes, which described surgeons' emotional experience before, during, and after surgery. Burdensome emotions are present throughout all 3 periods (and invade life outside the hospital)-surgeons' own emotions, their perception of patients' emotions, and their entwinement. The interviewees described the range of emotional situations they face (with patients, families, colleagues), the influence of the institutional framework (time pressure and fatigue, cultural pressure to satisfy the ideal image of a surgeon), as well as the emotions they feel (including especially anxiety, fear, distress, guilt, and accountability).
conclusionsEmotions are ubiquitous in surgeons' experience, and their exposure to stress is chronic rather than acute. Considering emotions only in terms of their relations to operative errors (as previous studies have done) is limiting. Although complications are quite rare events, the concern for possible complications is an oppressive experience, regardless of whether or not they actually occur.
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