Objective To study the factors affecting the critical thinking ability of residents undergoing standardized training of anesthesiology and to propose a teaching model based on job competency. Methods A total of 89 trainees who underwent standardized training for the residents of anesthesiology in Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from January 2020 to May 2024 were selected as study subjects. The study subjects were grouped according to the presence or absence of positive critical thinking, and those who did not have positive critical thinking were included in the group without positive critical thinking, and those who had positive critical thinking were included in the group with positive critical thinking. The percentage of the two groups was counted, the general information of the two groups was compared, the difference items of the baseline information were substituted into the univariate analysis, and the difference items of the univariate analysis were counted by Logistic regression equations to analyze the factors affecting the critical thinking ability of anesthesiology residency training trainees. Results Among the 89 residency training trainees of anesthesiology included in this study, there were 18 cases of those who did not possess positive critical thinking (20.22%, no positive critical thinking group) and 71 cases of those who possessed positive critical thinking (79.78%, positive critical thinking group). The proportion of males in the no positive critical thinking group and the Chinese version of the the epistemic trust, mistrust and credulity questionnaire (ETMCQ) scores were higher than those in the positive critical thinking group, and the scores on the intra-occupational drive scale were lower than those in the positive critical thinking group (all P＜0.05), and multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that gender and the Chinese version of the ETMCQ scores were all risk factors for the critical thinking ability of the residency training trainees of anesthesiology (OR＝12.883, 1.496, all P＜0.05), and occupational internal motivation scale score was a protective factor for critical thinking ability of the residency training trainees of anesthesiology (OR＝0.726, P＜0.05). Conclusion Gender, Chinese version of ETMCQ scores, and occupational internal drive scale scores are all factors that affect the critical thinking ability of the residency training trainees of anesthesiology. Clinical teaching can focus on screening male trainees who lack positive critical thinking according to the findings of this study, and carry out a teaching model based on job competency for them, which can provide reference value for the development of standardized training methods in other departments.