Perceived stress and team performance during a simulated resuscitation

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Human Factors in Medicine
• Emergency Medicine

Background:

• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) effectiveness can be influenced by rescuer psychological states.
• Human factors like stress and emotions are critical but often overlooked in CPR performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of mental stress and perceived emotions on the performance of medical students during simulated CPR.
• To identify specific emotional and stress-related factors affecting resuscitation quality.

Main Methods:

• Prospective observational study involving 120 medical students in teams of three performing simulated CPR.
• Self-reported measures of stress, feeling overwhelmed, motivation, and emotions were collected before, during, and after the simulation.
• Resuscitation performance was quantified by hands-on time within the first 180 seconds.

Main Results:

• Simulated CPR significantly increased stress, overload, and negative emotions while decreasing positive emotions compared to baseline.
• Higher stress/overload was negatively associated with CPR performance (p=0.006), while higher motivation was positively associated (p=0.036).
• Female students reported higher stress and negative emotions than males.

Conclusions:

• Perceived stress and negative emotions during simulated cardiac arrest adversely affect CPR performance, particularly in female students.
• Motivation emerged as a key factor positively influencing resuscitation skills.
• Further research is needed on experienced professionals and the efficacy of stress-coping strategies.