Available online 20 May 2023

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “intern” as “a student or trainee who works, sometimes without pay, at a trade or occupation in order to gain work experience.” In the medical realm, the label “intern” may introduce confusion as well as implicit and explicit bias. In this study, we sought to examine the general public's perception of the label “intern” compared to the more accurate label “first-year resident.”

We developed 2 forms of a 9-item survey that assessed an individual's level of comfort with surgical trainees’ participation in various aspects of surgical care and knowledge of medical education and work environment. One form used the label “intern” and the other used “first-year resident.”

A total of 148 adults in the general population at 3 local parks on 3 separate occasions.

A total of 148 individuals completed the survey (74 per form). Respondents who did not work in the medical field reported less comfort with interns vs first-year residents participating in various aspects of their care. Only 36% of respondents were able to correctly identify which surgical team members have completed a medical degree. Directly assessing perceptual incongruity between the labels “intern” and “first-year resident,” 43% of respondents said interns have a medical degree compared to 59% for first-year residents (p = 0.008), 88% stated that interns work full-time in the hospital compared to 100% for first-year residents (p = 0.041), and 82% stated that interns get paid for their work in the hospital compared to 97% for first-year residents (p = 0.047).

The label “intern” may confuse patients, family members, and perhaps other healthcare professionals regarding the level of experience and knowledge of first-year residents. We advocate for abolishing the term “intern” and replacing it with “first-year resident” or simply “resident.”

“If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things.”

In the 1930s, linguist Benjamin Whorf proposed the hypothesis of linguistic relativity in which he posited that words are not mere labels, but likely influence perception and cognition. An example of the Whorfian Hypothesis in a cognitive research setting is a study by Loftus and Palmer1 in which they asked participants to watch a video of a car accident then estimate the speed of the vehicles. The

We developed two forms of a 9-item survey. One form used the label intern and the other used the label first-year resident. Four items assessed an individual's level of comfort with a first-year resident's or an intern's participation in various aspects of surgical care on a five-point Likert scale (very uncomfortable, uncomfortable, neutral, comfortable, very comfortable). Three questions assessed knowledge of medical training and work environment (i.e., do interns/first-year residents work

A total of 148 adults (i.e., age > 18 years) completed the survey (74 per form). For the 4 questions that assessed levels of comfort for various aspects of a surgical procedure, respondents were neutral (Likert value = 3) to comfortable (Likert value = 4) with interns/first-year residents being part of their surgical team (64.2% comfortable/very comfortable, 10.8% uncomfortable/very uncomfortable), making the initial surgical incision (52.7% comfortable/very comfortable, 27.0%

Overall, respondents were relatively comfortable with interns/first-year residents, regardless of label, being part of their healthcare team and participating in various aspects of their care. Respondents who do not work in the medical field reported significantly lower levels of comfort with interns/first-year residents being part of their surgical team, making the initial surgical incision, and closing their surgical wound when compared to individuals who work in the medical field.

Our data

The label intern may confuse patients, family members, and perhaps other healthcare professionals regarding the level of experience and knowledge of first-year residents. We advocate for abolishing the term intern and replacing it with first-year resident or simply resident.

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© 2023 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.