The MICROSCOPE Project

Niguarda Hospital

Status: Begins enrollment this month

Conditions: Patients Outcomes; Mental Wellbeing; Intra-operative Consultation; Surgical Coaching; Mentorship; Early Career Surgeons

Treatments: Behavioral: Peri-operative support measures [mentorship, intraoperative consult, surgical coaching, standard practice (no structured support)]

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07153224

M1

Details and patient eligibility

About

This multicenter observational prospective study aims to explore the impact of peri-operative support measures (mentorship or coaching or intraoperative consultation) on the mental well-being of early career surgeons. Furthermore sub-analyses will be conducted to explore the impact that surgeons mental wellbeing related to different support measures could have on patients' outcomes

Full description

The MICROSCOPE study is a prospective, international, observational project evaluating the impact of structured perioperative support-mentorship, intraoperative consultation (IOC), and surgical coaching-on the well-being of early-career surgeons and their patients' outcomes.

Early-career surgeons (within 10 years post-training) face high stress, with limited structured support. This study investigates whether professional guidance improves surgeon resilience, reduces burnout, and enhances performance.

The project includes two components:

Surgeon-level study: Participants are observed over 12 months and grouped by support type received. Mental health outcomes are assessed using validated tools (Maslach Burnout Inventory, CD-RISC-10, QoL scale), alongside self- and assistant-rated performance metrics.

Patient-level study: Adult patients operated on by enrolled surgeons during the first 3 months are followed for 90 days. Outcomes include postoperative complications (CCI®, Clavien-Dindo), intraoperative events (Satava), reoperation, readmission, and mortality.

Data are collected via REDCap and analyzed using adjusted mixed-effects models to account for clustering and confounders. The study is investigator-initiated, with no external funding, and adheres to ethical standards including local IRB approval and informed consent.

MICROSCOPE aims to generate real-world evidence on how structured support can improve both surgical care quality and surgeon well-being.

Enrollment: 340 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Adult patients (≥18 years) treated for abdominal general surgical conditions in the emergency or elective setting or for thoraco-abdominal traumatic diseases. The list of surgical procedures is reported in the Supplementary Material 1
• Surgeries performed in elective, trauma, or emergency general surgery care

Exclusion criteria

• Patients operated by surgeons who completed general surgery residency more than 10 years before the study start date
• Pediatric patients < 18 years of age
• Patients or surgeons not willing to give their consent to participate

Trial design

340 participants in 1 patient group

Early-career surgeons

Description:

Early career surgeons mental wellbeing status in terms of burnout, resilience and perceived quality of life will be observed exploring the relationship with the peri-operative support measure received (mentorship, intraoperative consultation, surgical coaching or standard practice). Also the outcomes of patients operated on by early career surgeons will be studied. Furthermore potential relationship between perio-operative supporto measures, mental status and outcomes will be explored.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Peri-operative support measures [mentorship, intraoperative consult, surgical coaching, standard practice (no structured support)]