• van der WalRaymond A BRABFrom the Department of Anaesthesiology, Pain and Palliative Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen (RABvdW, GJS), Department of Intensive Care, Amsterdam Medical Center, Amsterdam (JW), Department of Medical Psychol, Jacqueline Wallage, GertJan Scheffer, Judith B Prins, and Erik Bijleveld.
• From the Department of Anaesthesiology, Pain and Palliative Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen (RABvdW, GJS), Department of Intensive Care, Amsterdam Medical Center, Amsterdam (JW), Department of Medical Psychology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen (JBP) and Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands (EB).
• Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2022 Apr 1; 39 (4): 378387378-387.

BackgroundAs a central part of their job, anaesthesiologists often have to perform demanding tasks under high-stakes conditions. Yet, some anaesthesiologists seem better able to deal with the demands of the profession than others.ObjectivesThis review aims to answer the following questions. What are the necessary or desirable qualities of an anaesthesiologist? Which personality traits or characteristics have been found in anaesthesiologists? How does personality relate to job performance and work stress among anaesthesiologists?DesignSystematic review of studies that examined anaesthesiologists' personality or personality characteristics. We performed our synthesis in terms of the five-factor model of personality.Data SourcesThe search was conducted in the PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science databases. Literature was included until December 2020.Eligibility CriteriaWe included qualitative and quantitative studies that examined anaesthesiologists' personality; also, we included studies that focused on anaesthesiologists' stress, performance or mental health but only if these topics were examined from the perspective of personality.ResultsWe included 6 qualitative and 25 quantitative articles. Synthesis of the qualitative articles revealed two classes of desirable technical and nontechnical personality characteristics. Synthesis of the quantitative articles suggested that anaesthesiologists do not essentially differ from other medical specialists. Moreover, our synthesis revealed several personality traits that predict good performance, low stress and good mental health among anaesthesiologists: lower Neuroticism, higher Extraversion, higher Openness and higher Conscientiousness.ConclusionThose personality traits that predict performance, stress or mental health in anaesthesiologists, also predict performance, stress or mental health in other high demand/high stakes environments (both medical and nonmedical). The ideal anaesthesiologist would be lower on Neuroticism, higher on Extraversion and higher on Conscientiousness.Copyright © 2021 European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.

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