Exploring factors influencing coping with uncertainties in medical practice: insights from residents’ experience

PURPOSE: Despite attempts to teach medical students and trainees about uncertainty in medical practice and how to tolerate it, studies on how to promote tolerance to uncertainty remain scarce. this study aims to investigate factors that could foster residents’ tolerance to uncertainty. METHODS: The authors used data sources, including semi-structured individual in-depth interviews with 20 medical residents working in two tertiary university hospitals. Inductive analysis of interview records determined key themes, identified categories, and performed a theoretical-type analysis of the participants’ coping behaviors according to the attributes of uncertainty tolerance. RESULTS: Two characteristics of residents which could lead to constructive coping with uncertainty were discovered: (1) communicative/collaborative behavior with their colleagues, superiors, and patients and (2) self-reflective/self-directed attitude in their medical practice. Both were used to classify four types of uncertainty coping behaviors: adaptive, self-contained, submissive, and isolated. CONCLUSION: Fostering communicative/collaborative behaviors and self-reflective/self-directed attitude throughout the training period may result in residents being more tolerant of uncertainties in medical practice.