Naugler, ChristopherAyala, Gabriel Eduardo2024-04-302024-04-302024-04-26Ayala, G. E. (2024). Difficulty in transitioning from medical residency to independent practice in pathology (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.https://hdl.handle.net/1880/118549https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/43391Transitioning from residency to medical independent medical practice may be a difficult experience for physicians. In this thesis, I explore this issue amongst Canadian Pathologists through an online survey of 118 practicing pathologists and 11 follow-up in-depth one-on-one interviews. Survey results revealed that only 40% of participants reported that they did not experience difficulty transitioning to independent practice. I used a mixed methods approach to determine themes associated with difficulty transitioning. I then developed a psychological traits profile for pathologists based on the Big 5 psychological traits and looked for differences in psychological profiles between individuals who reported difficulty and those who did not. Only minor differences were observed. The biggest predictor of difficulty transitioning was the Royal College specialty with Anatomic Pathologists experiencing significantly more difficulty than General Pathologists. This difference may relate to increased opportunity for graded responsibility in General Pathology residency training programs. Finally, I explored the way pathology residents perceive different forms of feedback and offered recommendations to residency training programs on ways that feedback could be optimized to best support the transition to independent practice.enUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Competency-Based Medical EducationPersonalityTransition to Independent Medical PracticeFeedbackEducationdoctoral thesis