Mapping the Surgical Personality: A Scoping Review of Personality Traits in Surgical Education and Career Choice

• Evidence suggests that the “surgical personality” reflects both inherent predispositions and traits shaped during training, indicating that surgeons are both born and made. • No “One-Size-Fits-All Surgeon”: Certain personality traits, such as high conscientiousness and low neuroticism appear more often in surgeons, but there is no clear “surgical personality.” • Personality shapes career choice: Similar to practicing surgeons, surgically inclined students often show higher extraversion, conscientiousness, and lower neuroticism than their peers. • Personality profiling could help in mentoring, career counseling and even burnout prevention in surgical training. • Changing perception works: to address the shortage of young surgeons, hands-on internships and workshops can be applied to transform students’ views of surgery. The declining interest in surgical careers among medical students poses a challenge to the sustainability of the surgical workforce. While various structural and cultural factors have been identified—such as long working hours, rigid hierarchies, and concerns over work-life balance—the role of personality traits remains underexplored. This scoping review maps and synthesizes the existing literature on personality traits among surgeons, surgical trainees, and surgically inclined medical students, drawing on validated assessment tools such as the Big Five Inventory (BFI) and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). We identify key themes in the literature, including patterns in trait distributions, the influence of personality on specialty preference and training outcomes, and implications for educational interventions. Our findings underscore the potential of personality profiling as a tool for career counseling, mentorship, and burnout prevention in surgical education.