BACKGROUND: Surgeons have a reputation for decisiveness and self-confidence, which suggests that they may tolerate uncertainty poorly and therefore be less capable than other doctors of experiencing clinical equipoise. Their 'typical' behaviour is characteristic of the stable extrovert personality and so they may prefer spontaneous clinical judgement over randomized trials. The aim of this study was to compare personality dimensions and tolerance of uncertainty among surgeons and hospital physicians, to determine whether differences in either property might help to explain the apparently poor performance of surgeons in conducting randomized controlled trials. METHODS: This was a postal questionnaire study of 1000 consultant general surgeons and 1000 consultant physicians. Respondents completed a short self-assessment of Eysenck personality dimensions, Budner's Intolerance of Ambiguity scale and a short questionnaire about attitudes to randomized trials. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: The response rate was 36.5 per cent. Physicians were more likely to be women (P < 0.001) and had spent 1 more year in academic posts than surgeons (P < 0.030). Surgeons were significantly more extrovert (P < 0.001) and less neurotic (P < 0.001) than physicians. Surgeons were significantly more intolerant of uncertainty than physicians (P = 0.007). Multivariate analysis identified age (P < 0.030) and sex (P = 0.015) as independent predictors of intolerance of uncertainty. The attitudes of surgeons and physicians to randomized trials were no different. CONCLUSION: Surgeons are not prejudiced against randomized trials, but their intolerance of uncertainty may inhibit them from deciding that an individual patient is suitable for trial entry. If more surgeons were female, this difference between surgeons and physicians might disappear.
BACKGROUND: Surgeons have a reputation for decisiveness and self-confidence, which suggests that they may tolerate uncertainty poorly and therefore be less capable than other doctors of experiencing clinical equipoise. Their 'typical' behaviour is characteristic of the stable extrovert personality and so they may prefer spontaneous clinical judgement over randomized trials. The aim of this study was to compare personality dimensions and tolerance of uncertainty among surgeons and hospital physicians, to determine whether differences in either property might help to explain the apparently poor performance of surgeons in conducting randomized controlled trials. METHODS: This was a postal questionnaire study of 1000 consultant general surgeons and 1000 consultant physicians. Respondents completed a short self-assessment of Eysenck personality dimensions, Budner's Intolerance of Ambiguity scale and a short questionnaire about attitudes to randomized trials. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: The response rate was 36.5 per cent. Physicians were more likely to be women (P < 0.001) and had spent 1 more year in academic posts than surgeons (P < 0.030). Surgeons were significantly more extrovert (P < 0.001) and less neurotic (P < 0.001) than physicians. Surgeons were significantly more intolerant of uncertainty than physicians (P = 0.007). Multivariate analysis identified age (P < 0.030) and sex (P = 0.015) as independent predictors of intolerance of uncertainty. The attitudes of surgeons and physicians to randomized trials were no different. CONCLUSION: Surgeons are not prejudiced against randomized trials, but their intolerance of uncertainty may inhibit them from deciding that an individual patient is suitable for trial entry. If more surgeons were female, this difference between surgeons and physicians might disappear.
Authors: Byron D Hughes; Jennifer A Perone; Claire B Cummins; Christian Sommerhalder; Douglas S Tyler; Kanika A Bowen-Jallow; Ravi S Radhakrishnan Journal: J Surg Res Date: 2018-09-03 Impact factor: 2.192
Authors: Jonathan A Cook; Mathew Baldwin; Cushla Cooper; Navraj S Nagra; Joanna C Crocker; Molly Glaze; Gemma Greenall; Amar Rangan; Lucksy Kottam; Jonathan L Rees; Dair Farrar-Hockley; Naomi Merritt; Sally Hopewell; David Beard; Michael Thomas; Melina Dritsaki; Andrew J Carr Journal: Health Technol Assess Date: 2021-02 Impact factor: 4.014
Authors: Patrick L Ergina; Jonathan A Cook; Jane M Blazeby; Isabelle Boutron; Pierre-Alain Clavien; Barnaby C Reeves; Christoph M Seiler; Douglas G Altman; Jeffrey K Aronson; Jeffrey S Barkun; W Bruce Campbell; Jonathan A Cook; Liane S Feldman; David R Flum; Paul Glasziou; Guy J Maddern; John C Marshall; Peter McCulloch; Jon Nicholl; Steven M Strasberg; Jonathan L Meakins; Deborah Ashby; Nick Black; John Bunker; Martin Burton; Marion Campbell; Kalipso Chalkidou; Iain Chalmers; Marc de Leval; Jon Deeks; Adrian Grant; Muir Gray; Roger Greenhalgh; Milos Jenicek; Sean Kehoe; Richard Lilford; Peter Littlejohns; Yoon Loke; Rajan Madhock; Kim McPherson; Peter Rothwell; Bill Summerskill; David Taggart; Parris Tekkis; Matthew Thompson; Tom Treasure; Ulrich Trohler; Jan Vandenbroucke Journal: Lancet Date: 2009-09-26 Impact factor: 79.321
Authors: Myura Nagendran; Tiago V Pereira; Grace Kiew; Douglas G Altman; Mahiben Maruthappu; John P A Ioannidis; Peter McCulloch Journal: BMJ Date: 2016-10-27