Using EEG to Assess Cognitive Fatigue in Real Time: A Medical Simulation Study

Area of Science:

• Medical Science
• Neuroscience
• Human Factors Engineering

Background:

• Medical errors are frequently linked to cognitive fatigue in healthcare professionals.
• Current subjective self-report methods for assessing cognitive fatigue lack reliability and validity.
• Objective assessment tools are needed to accurately measure cognitive fatigue in medical settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate mobile electroencephalography (mEEG) as an objective measure of cognitive fatigue in medical students.
• To compare the efficacy of mEEG with traditional self-report measures in assessing cognitive fatigue.
• To investigate the neural correlates of cognitive fatigue during simulated medical tasks.

Main Methods:

• Medical students underwent a simulated night on call, diagnosing simulated medical cases.
• Cognitive fatigue was assessed using both behavioral measures and mobile electroencephalography (mEEG) before and after the simulated shift.
• A specific neural response amplitude sensitive to cognitive fatigue was analyzed.

Main Results:

• A significant decrease in the amplitude of a fatigue-sensitive neural response was observed from the beginning to the end of the simulated shift.
• This decrease in neural response amplitude correlated with increased cognitive fatigue.
• No significant relationship was found between the objective neural response measure and subjective self-reported fatigue scores.

Conclusions:

• Mobile electroencephalography (mEEG) provides a reliable and objective method for assessing cognitive fatigue in medical professionals.
• Objective mEEG measures are superior to subjective self-reports for detecting cognitive fatigue.
• Implementing objective fatigue assessments can potentially mitigate medical errors and improve patient safety.