The 'R' word - do dental core trainees possess it?

Resilience is the process of 'bouncing back' from stresses in life. High resilience is associated with less anxiety and psychological distress, and is therefore an important trait for health professionals. We know of no work to date on the resilience of dental core trainees (DCT) as they make the unique transition from dental practice to a hospital-based setting. To elicit data on the self-perceived resilience of this group, and to find out if resilience correlated with the perceived stress of scenarios in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS), we distributed surveys (the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) and five clinical scenarios) to DCTs in the Yorkshire and Humber region, and asked them what would improve their resilience. A total of 38 responded: 4 had high, 11 had normal, and 23 had low levels of resilience. An inverse correlation was seen between resilience and the perceived stress of the scenarios. A total of 28/31 OMFS DCT1s responded (90%). Self-perceived resilience was low. High levels of resilience were associated with low levels of perceived stress from the scenarios. The trainees felt that approaches that were supported by the literature would improve their resilience. Resilience training could therefore be considered for this group, and it could have a positive impact on their well-being and potential benefits for patient care.