ArticleThe British journal of surgery2022
Exploring variation in surgical practice: does surgeon personality influence anastomotic decision-making?
Article in The British journal of surgery, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- 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
- Decision making and outcomes in colorectal cancer and frailty: the DeCaF study.Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England · 2026Article
- Cut from the same cloth? investigating the personality of interventional and surgical cardiovascular specialists.Langenbeck's archives of surgery · 2025Article
- Protective ileostomy creation after anterior resection of the rectum (PICARR): a decision-making exploring international survey.Updates in surgery · 2025Article
- The mind behind the decision: clinicians' personality types and their role in mental health detention and care.General psychiatry · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDecision-making under uncertainty may be influenced by an individual's personality. The primary aim was to explore associations between surgeon personality traits and colorectal anastomotic decision-making.
methodsColorectal surgeons worldwide participated in a two-part online survey. Part 1 evaluated surgeon characteristics using the Big Five Inventory to measure personality (five domains: agreeableness; conscientiousness; extraversion; emotional stability; openness) in response to scenarios presented in Part 2 involving anastomotic decisions (i.e. rejoining the bowel with/without temporary stomas, or permanent diversion with end colostomy). Anastomotic decisions were compared using repeated-measure ANOVA. Mean scores of traits domains were compared with normative data using two-tailed t tests.
resultsIn total, 186 surgeons participated, with 127 surgeons completing both parts of the survey (68.3 per cent). One hundred and thirty-one surgeons were male (70.4 per cent) and 144 were based in Europe (77.4 per cent). Forty-one per cent (77 surgeons) had begun independent practice within the last 5 years. Surgeon personality differed from the general population, with statistically significantly higher levels of emotional stability (3.25 versus 2.97 respectively), lower levels of agreeableness (3.03 versus 3.74), extraversion (2.81 versus 3.38) and openness (3.19 versus 3.67), and similar levels of conscientiousness (3.42 versus 3.40 (all P <0.001)). Female surgeons had significantly lower levels of openness (P <0.001) than males (3.06 versus 3.25). Personality was associated with anastomotic decision-making in specific scenarios.
conclusionColorectal surgeons have different personality traits from the general population. Certain traits seem to be associated with anastomotic decision-making but only in specific scenarios. Further exploration of the association of personality, risk-taking, and decision-making in surgery is necessary.
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