Seeking Your Consent
To participate in Maxine E. Trent’s study, please review and sign the consent form, ensuring you understand the scope and purpose of our research. Your participation will contribute significantly to advancing counseling practices and is vital for the study’s success.
Before filling out the consent form, please make sure to download and fully read these two documents.
Introduction: Surgeon Support Study
You may be able to take part in a research study. This form provides important information about that study, including the risks and benefits to you as a potential participant. Please read this form carefully and ask the researcher any questions that you may have about the study. You can ask about research activities and any risks or benefits you may experience. You may also wish to discuss your participation with other people, such as your family doctor or a family member.
Your participation in this research is entirely voluntary. You may refuse to participate or stop your participation at any time and for any reason without any penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled.
PURPOSE AND DESCRIPTION:
High-quality medical care is dependent on the healthcare team and physician's well-being and professional fulfillment. Burnout, the COVID-19 crisis, and other healthcare occupational hazards contribute to physicians leaving the practice of medicine. For surgeons, the experience of adverse events, second victims, and subsequent legal system involvement can be devastating. Organizational interventions to support surgeons after adverse events exist; however, they are not common and are possibly hindered due to the fear of legal entanglement and lack of best practices for response. Previous qualitative inquiry recommends peer and leadership support response post adverse event; however, best practices for how best to respond are needed.
The purpose of this study is to investigate what training and practicing surgeons have previously found helpful after experiencing an interoperative adverse event. Qualitative data will be captured through individual interviews (15-30) min.
If selected for participation, you will be asked to attend one in-person or virtual interview visit with Maxine Trent LPC, LMFT. The study will run from 10/1/2024-11/29/2024. The interview is expected to take 15-30 min. The interview will be audio recorded. This study seeks 20-30 participants.
 During the study interview, you will be asked to participate in the following procedures:
This study specifically seeks information about the emotional experience and what peer/leadership words/behaviors/actions you found helpful after an interoperative adverse event: please DO NOT share any specific information regarding the interoperative adverse event itself.
Participant qualifying criteria:
- Â Surgeon
- Experience with Adverse Events
- Ability to recall helpful leadership or peer actions/behaviors after the experience with Adverse Event
RISKS & BENEFITS:
There are risks to taking part in this research study. Below is a list of the foreseeable risks, including the seriousness of those risks and how likely they are to occur:
Breach of Confidentiality is a risk that is less likely to occur because the PI will code the demographic data, transcribe audio data herself, and analyze it using Atlas TI Qualitative Research Software. All information will be saved separately on an external drive, secured by double locks, kept for three years, and destroyed irretrievably.
Emotional/psychological discomfort is a risk due to asking what is helpful after an interoperative adverse event. This risk will be lessened by a skilled and supportive interviewer who has 30+ years of trauma intervention counseling and the assurance of a supportive peer coaching resource through https://surgeonmasters.com/peersupport/.
Participating in this study has potential benefits, including creating best practices for peer and leadership response after interoperative adverse events that may be helpful for the surgical community. However, the researcher cannot guarantee that you will experience any personal benefits from participating in this study.
PRIVACY & CONFIDENTIALITY:Â
Any information you provide will be confidential to the extent allowable by law. Some identifiable data may have to be shared with individuals outside of the study team, such as members of the ACU Institutional Review Board. Otherwise, your confidentiality will be protected by demographic data being coded and qualitative interview data being securely kept on campus with Dr. Dana McMichael in the ACU Dallas electronic data repository for a period of at least 3 years after the study is completed, after which it may be destroyed.
CONTACTS:Â
If you have questions about the research study, the lead researcher is Maxine Trent LPC, LMFT may be contacted at (254) 541-2696; [email protected]. If you are unable to reach the lead researcher or wish to speak to someone other than the lead researcher, you may contact Jeff White, PhD, [email protected]. If you have concerns about this study, believe you may have been injured because of this study, or have general questions about your rights as a research participant, you may contact ACU’s Executive Director of Research, Qi Hang, at [email protected].
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Your participation may be ended early by the researchers for certain reasons. For example, we may end your participation if you no longer meet study requirements, the researchers believe it is no longer in your best interest to continue participating, you do not follow the instructions provided by the researchers, or the study is ended. You will be contacted by the researchers and given further instructions in the event that you are removed from the study.
Consent Signature Section
Consent with Signature will be provided to the e-mail you give on the Contact Us page form.