Most surgeons report being affected by performance anxiety in relation to their work, with the anxiety frequently having a negative effect on well-being, a new study of surgeons in the UK shows.
Dr Robert Miller
"Performance anxiety or stage fright is a widely recognized problem in music and sports, and there are many similarities between these arenas and the operating theater," first author Robert Miller, MRCS, of the Surgical Psychology and Performance Group, UK, and the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, St George's Hospital NHS Trust, London, told Medscape Medical News.
"We were aware of it anecdotally in a surgical context, but for one reason or another, perhaps professional pride and fear of negative perception, this is rarely openly discussed amongst surgeons."
In the cross-sectional study published this month in Annals of Surgery, Miller and his colleagues surveyed surgeons in all specialties working in the UK who had at least 1 year of postgraduate surgical training.
Of a total of 631 responses received, 523 (83%) were included in the analysis. The median age of those who responded was 41.2 years, and the mean duration of surgical experience was 15.3 years (range, 1 – 52 years). Among them, 62% were men, and 52% were of consultant/attending grade.
