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Completed

NCT Number: NCT01826318

Stress Coping Strategy on Perceived Stress Levels and Performance During a Simulated Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

This study assessed the impact of a task-focusing strategy on perceived stress levels and performance during a simulated CPR scenario.

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Key information

Conditions

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitations

Age range

20 year–80 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University Hospital Basel, ICU

Basel, Canton of Basel-City, 4055, Switzerland

About this study

Background: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) causes significant stress, 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).

Aim: This study assessed the impact of a task-focusing strategy on perceived stress levels and performance during a simulated CPR scenario.

Methods: This is a prospective, randomized-controlled trial

Setting: Simulator-center of the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland.

Participants: A total of 124 volunteer medical students

Intervention: Randomization 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.

Outcome measures: The primary outcome is 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.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • 4th year medical students

Exclusion criteria

  • none

Treatment and study plan

Stress coping

Behavioral

Students in the intervention group received a 10 minute instruction to cope with stress. They were informed that an emergency situation is a stressful experience for health care workers and that perceived stress may interfere with their decision-making abilities and performance. Particularly, feeling overwhelmed by stress may cause cognitive impairment potentially leading to loss of concept how to deal with an emergency situation, which in turn further increases stress (vicious cycle). However, it is possible to overcome this situation by focusing on the basic conditions of the situation and the immediate actions that are needed. They were instructed that they should ask two task-focusing questions aloud ("what is the patient's condition?", "what immediate action is needed?") to overcome the negative consequences of feeling overwhelmed by stress.

Primary outcomes

  1. Average level of stress/overload during the resuscitation period

    Time frame: In the first 120 seconds after the onset of the cardiac arrest

    The primary outcome was the average level of stress/overload during the resuscitation period for the experimental and the control group.

Secondary outcomes

  1. hands-on time

    Time frame: in the first 120 seconds after the onset of the cardiac arrest.

    Medical performance measures: hands-on time defined as duration of uninterrupted chest compressions and defibrillation in the first 120 seconds after the onset of the cardiac arrest.

  2. time elapsed until CPR was started

    Time frame: in the first 120 seconds after the onset of the cardiac arrest

    the time elapsed until CPR was started, defined as the time to the first meaningful measure (either defibrillation, chest compression or ventilation) after the onset of the cardiac arrest; the team coordination measure

  3. leadership statements

    Time frame: in the first 120 seconds after the onset of the cardiac arrest

    Number of leadership statements coded, using a predefined checklist containing the following categories based on previous research

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Impact of a Stress Coping Strategy on Perceived Stress Levels and Performance During a Simulated Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Important dates

Study start
2007
Primary completion
2008
Study completion
2008
First posted
Apr 8, 2013
Registry last updated
Apr 8, 2013

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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