Table 5.

Summary of Thematic Findings on ‘Impact on Professional Identity’.

Impact on Professional Identity
- Negative Impact
○ Disengagement with work
“I'm generally dissatisfied at work. everyone is fairly checked out” (P16)
○ Loss of purpose
“They are not operating – for a surgeon that is their livelihood. you still have to have that feeling you are operating” (P5)
○ Feeling helpless
“I think a surgeons job is to assist in fixing a physical problem at hand – we have lost a large part of that role now. I feel kind of useless in the grand scheme of things” (P64)
○ Lack of achievement
“Just feel I achieve very little in a given day, despite spending many hours in the hospital” (P5)
- Positive Impact
○ Appreciating the multidisciplinary team
“I look at some of the busier disciplines now – like ICU and our nursing colleagues and I think you begin to appreciate the role they play in the whole system a lot more” (P64)