Heart rate as an indicator of stress in surgeons and anaesthetists

Ambulatory monitoring of heart rate was used as one indication of psychological stress among 8 doctors involved in cardio-thoracic surgery and 8 doctors performing anaesthesia in the same operating theatre. Twenty-three days of recording were available and the heart rate traces were related to observations of activities made by the authors. Comparisons of mean heart rates are made for these and other occupations. Certain sorts of activities are shown to increase and decrease heart rate. The value of heart rate as an indicator of psychological stress in field studies is discussed.