Stress Inoculation: Preparing Outside the Box in Surgical Resuscitation and Education

Abstract

Fear of litigation even in surgical training, duty hour restrictions, and lack of exposure and responsibility to primarily manage real-life stressful situations have potentially impeded newly trained surgeons’ ability to function while under duress. Thus, our Research Collaborative sought to examine stress immersion and stress inoculation training in surgical simulation training. We examined the impact on surgical trainees’s ability to perform in real, lifesaving situations, regardless of outside stressors. Recent findings have demonstrated that by testing participants for salivary cortisol and amylase levels during surgical simulations, habituation to stress, coupled with increased performance metrics, can be demonstrated. The current method of see one, do one, teach one may not be the best method for surgical or medical training, and other methods such as immersion training and stress inoculation should be further studied.