• Lamees Mahmood Malik, Tanzeela Khalid, and Abid Ashar.
• Prof. Dr. Lamees Mahmood Malik, MBBS, FCPS (Derm) Professor of Dermatology Unit-I, Allama Iqbal Medical College / Jinnah Hospital Lahore, Pakistan.
• Pak J Med Sci. 2023 Jul 1; 39 (4): 106810731068-1073.

Background And ObjectiveCausal attributions are reasons given to certain events in life including failure and success. The objective of this qualitative study was to explore the attributions perceived as the cause of failure by post graduate residents, failing the final clinical exit examination of Fellowship of College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (FCPS).MethodsThis exploratory study was conducted from July 2021 to July 2022, at Jinnah Hospital, Lahore. Study population was selected by purposeful maximal variation sampling. A total of ten post graduate residents from four specialties, failing in FCPS part two clinical examination were included. After written informed consent, semi structured face to face, in depth interviews were conducted. Data saturation was achieved after eight interviews after which two more interviews were carried out. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis of the data was done by synthesizing codes into categories and themes.ResultsA total of 17 attributions noted were grouped into five categories namely 'Inadequate exam preparation', 'Personal factors,' 'Exam related factors,' 'Training related factors and 'Luck'. Two main themes of External and Internal factors emerged from these. Common attributions were; lack of effort (8/10), inadequate knowledge (8/10), family commitments (7/10), luck (8/10) and examiner's attitude (5/10).ConclusionsMost of the residents attributed internal, unstable and controllable factors like inadequate knowledge and lack of effort. In addition, external uncontrollable factors of bad luck and harsh attitude of examiners were considered as contributory factors towards failure.Copyright: © Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences.

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