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BMC Emergency Medicine
Published in: BMC Emergency Medicine 1/2013

Open Access 01-12-2013 | Research article

Impact of a stress coping strategy on perceived stress levels and performance during a simulated cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a randomized controlled trial

Authors: Sabina Hunziker, Simona Pagani, Katrin Fasler, Franziska Tschan, Norbert K Semmer, Stephan Marsch

Published in: BMC Emergency Medicine | Issue 1/2013

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Abstract

Background

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) causes significant stress for the rescuers which may cause deficiencies in attention and increase distractibility. This may lead to misjudgements of priorities and delays in CPR performance, which may further increase mental stress (vicious cycle). This study assessed the impact of a task-focusing strategy on perceived stress levels and performance during a simulated CPR scenario.

Methods

This prospective, randomized-controlled trial was conducted at the simulator-center of the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland. A total of 124 volunteer medical students were randomized to receive a 10 minute instruction to cope with stress by loudly posing two task-focusing questions (“what is the patient’s condition?”, “what immediate action is needed?”) when feeling overwhelmed by stress (intervention group) or a control group. The primary outcome was the perceived levels of stress and feeling overwhelmed (stress/overload); secondary outcomes were hands-on time, time to start CPR and number of leadership statements.

Results

Participants in the intervention group reported significantly less stress/overload levels compared to the control group (mean difference: -0.6 (95% CI −1.3, -0.1), p=0.04). Higher stress/overload was associated with less hands-on time. Leadership statements did not differ between groups, but the number of leadership statements did relate to performance. Hands-on time was longer in the intervention- group, but the difference was not statistically significant (difference 5.5 (95% CI −3.1, 14.2), p=0.2); there were no differences in time to start CPR (difference −1.4 (95% CI −8.4, 5.7), p=0.71).

Conclusions

A brief stress-coping strategy moderately decreased perceived stress without significantly affecting performance in a simulated CPR. Further studies should investigate more intense interventions for reducing stress.

Trial registration

NCT01645566
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Impact of a stress coping strategy on perceived stress levels and performance during a simulated cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a randomized controlled trial
Authors
Sabina Hunziker
Simona Pagani
Katrin Fasler
Franziska Tschan
Norbert K Semmer
Stephan Marsch
Publication date
01-12-2013
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Emergency Medicine / Issue 1/2013
Electronic ISSN: 1471-227X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-227X-13-8

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