Understanding the Impact of Acute Stressor During Simulation on Medical Students' Short and Long-Term Clinical Skills Retention

Background: Acute stressors may be beneficial when embedded in simulation scenario to promote better skills retention. We aimed to establish the impact of acute stressors to medical students’ short-and long-term retention of intravenous catheterization skills. Methods: Forty-five participants took part in the intravenous catheterization simulation using standardized patients in treatment (Stress) and control (Non-Stress) groups. Participants were asked to complete State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and assessed on their skills performance before, shortly after and twenty days after the simulation session. We continuously recorded participants’ heart rate during the simulation. Results: No significant difference and interaction were found between pre-simulation, short-term, and long-term skills performance scores for both groups F(2, 84) = 1.231, p = 0.297. Analysis of average and maximum heart rate as well as anxiety scores was not statistically different between groups. Conclusion: Future study is needed to gain insight into sufficient amount of stressors needed to impact medical students’ skills retention.