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AAPS members rate hard work, compassion, manual dexterity as top qualities for success

Based on results from a survey, researchers found members of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons attributed different personal qualities to their success, based on demographics and number of years in the industry.

The survey was electronically distributed to all 580 American Association of Plastic Surgeons (AAPS) members, with 295 of the members returning completed surveys. The researchers included 10 qualities for rating in the survey: intelligence, hard work, compassion, artistic sense, spatial sense, engineering mindset, manual dexterity, career opportunities, mentorship and supportive family.

Lifei Guo

Across all data collected, hard work, compassion and manual dexterity were rated as the three most important qualities.

Most responders (271) were men, accounting for 92% of the study population. Sixty-six responders were currently program directors, and 98 had been program directors at one time.

The majority of responders had been in practice for 21 to 30 years, and the vast majority (238 responders) were currently practicing, according to the researchers.

Mentorship was more highly rated in male surgeons than female surgeons, as well as in surgeons with program director experience vs. those who had no program director experience.

Those with the most years of experience rated mentorship higher than younger surgeons.

Female surgeons ranked hard work higher than male surgeons; 80% of male responders noted this characteristic as “very important” vs 100% of female responders.

Qualities that members rated neutral for success were artistic sense, career opportunities and an engineering mindset.

The researchers concluded that this data may be useful for developing and selecting future plastic surgeons. - by Abigail Sutton

Disclosure: The researchers reported no relevant financial disclosures.