Presentation
Prescription for Success: Mental Skills Training to Reduce Physician Stress and Enhance Performance
SessionSurgery (HE6)
DescriptionResearch has shown that emergency department nurses and physicians, anesthesiologists, surgeons, and other healthcare professionals are commonly confronted with stress that can compromise patient safety. This stress can negatively impact technical and nontechnical surgical performance, and limit the transfer of simulation-acquired surgical skills in the operating room. These performance impediments can lead to errors and potentially decrease patient safety. Importantly, in a recent survey conducted at our institution, 40% of responding surgeons (i.e., attendings and residents) indicated that they had witnessed an intraoperative complication due to surgeon stress. Mental skills are cognitive strategies that help performers consistently achieve optimal performance under stressful and cognitively demanding conditions. Mental skills training programs have been successfully implemented to enhance the performance of military pilots, police special forces, U.S. Navy SEALS, and elite athletes. To this point, other than mental imagery (i.e., mental rehearsal), mental skills have rarely been applied with healthcare professionals to enhance their performance. In the limited studies where mental skills have been implemented with healthcare providers, results indicate that mental skills can enhance performance and reduce stress.
Our team has developed and obtained validity evidence of a novel, comprehensive mental skills curriculum to teach performance-enhancement and stress-coping strategies to diverse learners. Several related research strategies have involved the implementation of mental skills with future healthcare providers (pre-medical students) and surgical residents. The mental skills taught during this curriculum are being practically applied during the learners’ Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery simulation training, to develop these skills into habits for performance that can be easily implemented in challenging clinical situations.
Our program of research on the effectiveness of this mental skills curriculum has shown that it can increase surgical novices’ use of mental skills in practice and performance settings, enhance their laparoscopic performance, reduce their perceived stress, and improve their retention of surgical skills. Among residents in a randomized-controlled trial, those who received mental skills training significantly outperformed controls when performing a transfer test of skill during a stressful laparoscopic surgical case.
The takeaway points for this presentation will be:
1) Excessive stress can significantly impede healthcare provider performance.
2) Mental skills training has been implemented with performers in high-stakes areas with promising results.
3) The novel mental skills curriculum offered with surgical trainees can significantly mitigate the negative effects of stress on performance.
Our team has developed and obtained validity evidence of a novel, comprehensive mental skills curriculum to teach performance-enhancement and stress-coping strategies to diverse learners. Several related research strategies have involved the implementation of mental skills with future healthcare providers (pre-medical students) and surgical residents. The mental skills taught during this curriculum are being practically applied during the learners’ Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery simulation training, to develop these skills into habits for performance that can be easily implemented in challenging clinical situations.
Our program of research on the effectiveness of this mental skills curriculum has shown that it can increase surgical novices’ use of mental skills in practice and performance settings, enhance their laparoscopic performance, reduce their perceived stress, and improve their retention of surgical skills. Among residents in a randomized-controlled trial, those who received mental skills training significantly outperformed controls when performing a transfer test of skill during a stressful laparoscopic surgical case.
The takeaway points for this presentation will be:
1) Excessive stress can significantly impede healthcare provider performance.
2) Mental skills training has been implemented with performers in high-stakes areas with promising results.
3) The novel mental skills curriculum offered with surgical trainees can significantly mitigate the negative effects of stress on performance.
Event Type
Oral Presentations
TimeTuesday, April 11:52pm - 2:15pm EDT
LocationHarbour C
Hospital Environments (HE)