1Director, Adjunct Faculty, Symbiosis Centre for Health Skills, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune, India
2Medical Officer, Academics, Adjunct Faculty, Symbiosis Centre for Health Skills, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune, India
3Adjunct Faculty, Symbiosis Centre for Health Skills, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune, India
Stress is an emotion-related response that results from exposure to various emotionally charged clinical events. Anxiety generated by these stressful clinical experiences may inevitably affect learning. A certain level of anxiety shall improve decision-making and clinical performance. High fidelity simulation is an innovative and effective teaching strategy for medical students. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) students are at present exposed more to low fidelity simulation, which fails to replicate real clinical stress. The study aims to assess self-reported psychological stress levels in EMS students before and after exposure to high fidelity simulation.
To assess the self-reported psychological stress levels in EMS students on their first exposure to high fidelity simulation.
A facilitator guided simulation session was conducted in order to study the impact of psychological stress on first exposure to simultion amongst 65 students of Post Graduate Diplioma in Emergency Medical Services (PGDEMS). The standardized Stressor Appraisal Scale (SAS) questionnaire comprising of 10 items was administered to the students before and after the simulation session to document the baseline self-reported psychological stress level. The scores of the Post Simulation versus Pre Simulation were tabulated and compared using t test.
On comparison of the scores of post simulation questionnaire versus pre simulation questionnaire, the parameters pertaining to demanding and stressful nature of task, level of exertion, degree of effort, seriousness and perception of performance in the task showed remarkable significance as opposed to perception of threat, ability to cope, level of uncertainty and confidence which was not significant.
The participants felt that the simulation session was more stressful than expected. However, this stress was positive in nature as the score obtained on the parameter of importance to do well significantly increased after the simulation session.
Regular exposure to high fidelity simulation may help in channelizing the psychological stress constructively thereby improving the participant performance.
Further elaborate studies are required on this subject.
High fidelity simulation, Psychological stress, Emergency medical Services
