Real-Time Stress Analysis Affecting Nurse during Elective Spinal Surgery Using a Wearable Device.

Area of Science:

• Neurosurgery
• Surgical Nursing
• Occupational Health

Background:

• Spinal surgery requires high concentration and teamwork.
• Surgeon stress is studied, but nurse stress is under-researched.
• Understanding nurse stress is crucial for surgical team optimization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the intraoperative stress experienced by surgical nurses during spinal surgery.
• To analyze the factors contributing to stress in nurses based on their roles (circulating vs. scrub).

Main Methods:

• Collected 160 surgical stress records from 40 spinal surgeries.
• Utilized electroencephalography (EEG) and heart rate variability (HRV) to measure stress.
• Analyzed concentration, tension, and physical stress levels in surgeons and nurses.

Main Results:

• Circulating nurses exhibited significantly higher concentration and tension levels (p < 0.05).
• Scrub nurses showed elevated physical stress markers, including heart rate and LF/HF ratio (p < 0.05).
• Increased surgical experience correlated with decreased stress parameters in scrub nurses (p < 0.01).

Conclusions:

• Surgical nurses face distinct intraoperative stressors based on their roles.
• Addressing nurse-specific stress can enhance surgical team performance and patient outcomes.
• Further research into optimizing the surgical environment for nurses is warranted.