Workplace bullying among surgical residents in Colombia

Introduction: Workplace bullying and sexual harassment are concerns in surgical training.Objective: We explored the magnitude of these problems among general surgical residents in Colombia. Materials and methods: A national study was conducted in June 2020. Residents self-rated their exposure to bullying and sexual harassment in the form of gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, and sexual coercion. Demographic variables and perpetrators between victims and non-victims were analysed.Results: A total of 302 residents were included. The rates of bullying and sexual harassment were 49% and 14.9%, respectively. The main forms of sexual harassment corresponded to gender harassment (47%) and unwanted sexual attention (47%). Sexual harassment was significantly higher among women. Surgeons were the main perpetrators.Conclusions: Workplace bullying and sexual harassment are frequent in surgical training in Colombia. These findings lead to interventions to improve the educational culture of surgical departments to decrease the prevalence of these behaviors.