Abstract
Grit is a personality trait that is defined as passion and perseverance for a long-term
goal. Resilience is defined as the ability to recover or adjust to misfortune or change.
The 2 concepts are inexorably intertwined. Surgery residents demonstrate higher average
grit scores than the general population. Increased levels of grit predict success
in many areas of life and are positively correlated with satisfaction in surgery residency.
Decreased levels of grit correlate with burnout, attrition, and suicidality in resident
surgeons. Personal grittiness can be increased by a focused interest in an area, deliberate
goal-directed practice, finding a calling in life, and cultivating hope and resilience.
Resilience, like grit, can be nurtured over time with deliberate steps. Grit and resilience
are important in residency training, and training programs can be tailored to promote
a wise environment, with demanding, yet supportive, departments. Organizational grit
can be boosted by seeking to maximize successful attributes of dynamic organizations.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 24, 2022
Accepted:
November 29,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofFootnotes
This paper was presented as the CSA presidential address at the 79th annual meeting of the Central Surgical Association, June 3, 2022, Milwaukee, WI.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
