title: Mirror mirror on the ward, who's the most narcissistic of them all? Pathologic personality traits in health care.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Stereotypes in medicine have become exaggerated for the purpose of workplace amusement. Our objective was to assess the levels of "dark triad" personality traits expressed by individuals working in different health care specialties in comparison with the general population.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a prospective, cross-sectional study within multiple departments of a UK secondary care teaching hospital. A total of 248 health care professionals participated, and 159 members of the general population were recruited as a comparison group. We measured 3 personality traits--narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy--through the validated self-reported personality questionnaires Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), MACH-IV and the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP), respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Health care professionals scored significantly lower on narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy (mean scores 12.0, 53.0 and 44.7, respectively) than the general population (p < 0.001). Nursing professionals exhibited a significantly higher level of secondary psychopathy than medical professionals (p = 0.04, mean LSRP score 20.3). Within the cohort of medical professionals, surgeons expressed significantly higher levels of narcissism (p = 0.03, mean NPI score 15.0).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health care professionals expressed low levels of dark triad personality traits. The suggestion that health care professionals are avaricious and untrustworthy may be refuted, even for surgeons.
authors.affiliation: Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (Bucknall); School of Life, Sport and Social Sciences (Burwaiss, Charles), Edinburgh Napier University; University of Edinburgh Medical School (MacDonald, Clement), Edinburgh, United Kingdom vittoria.bucknall@doctors.org.uk.
authors.forename: Vittoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bucknall
authors.affiliation: Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (Bucknall); School of Life, Sport and Social Sciences (Burwaiss, Charles), Edinburgh Napier University; University of Edinburgh Medical School (MacDonald, Clement), Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Suendoss
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Burwaiss
authors.affiliation: Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (Bucknall); School of Life, Sport and Social Sciences (Burwaiss, Charles), Edinburgh Napier University; University of Edinburgh Medical School (MacDonald, Clement), Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.affiliation: Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (Bucknall); School of Life, Sport and Social Sciences (Burwaiss, Charles), Edinburgh Napier University; University of Edinburgh Medical School (MacDonald, Clement), Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Charles
authors.affiliation: Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (Bucknall); School of Life, Sport and Social Sciences (Burwaiss, Charles), Edinburgh Napier University; University of Edinburgh Medical School (MacDonald, Clement), Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Rhys
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Clement
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D008257:Machiavellianism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009289:Narcissism; D010555:Personality Inventory; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom