Stress and heart rate in high-fidelity training scenarios for undergraduate medical students

Abstract

To evaluate whether the simulation environment is a significant contributor to stress for participants of high-fidelity simulation teaching, and whether heart rate is a realistic and practical surrogate measure for stress within simulation. Seven third-year medical students underwent continuous ambulatory heart rate monitoring while performing a high-fidelity simulation of an upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage. Pre- and post-simulation Likert-style questionnaires were distributed, in which students rated their levels of perceived anxiety regarding a selection of common clinical situations …