To construct an implementation model for the structured integration of medical humanities general education into residency training, tailored to clinical scenarios in general surgery, to verify its application effects, and to analyze the internal mechanism through which it enhances the comprehensive professional competency of resident physicians.

A quasi-experimental study design was employed. A total of 136 resident physicians who rotated in the Department of General Surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from July 2020 to June 2023 were selected as research subjects. They were non-randomly divided (based on rotation batches) into an observation group (n=60) and a control group (n=76). The observation group underwent a 5-month humanities-integrated teaching intervention based on a three-dimensional framework of “Curriculum-Scenario-Feedback” on the basis of conventional residency training, while the control group received conventional general surgery residency training. The teaching effects were comprehensively evaluated from multiple dimensions through end-of-rotation assessments, reflective journal text analysis, scenario simulation assessments, and specialized questionnaires.

The scores of the observation group in professional theory, skill operation, and case presentation were 8.9%, 8.4%, and 8.2%, higher than those of the control group respectively, with all differences statistically significant (P<0.001). The observation group scored significantly higher than the control group in the affective response and critical analysis dimensions of reflective journals, the information giving and shared decision-making items in scenario simulations, as well as in all dimensions of cognitive understanding, affective identification, behavioral intention, and teaching satisfaction (all P<0.05).

The structured integration model constructed in this study can effectively and synergistically enhance the clinical professional competence and medical humanities literacy of general surgery resident physicians. Its core mechanism involves: reducing cognitive load through systematic curriculum integration, strengthening the internalization of humanistic affect through learning communities, and promoting the transformation of humanistic behaviors via a formative evaluation closed-loop. This provides a practical plan for implementing evaluable and replicable medical humanities education within the surgical residency training system.