Key result
Physiotherapy students exhibited a large, sustained anticipatory autonomic stress response throughout a 12-scenario OSCE, with the highest sympathetic response occurring in scenarios requiring clinical reasoning rather than those with higher emotional impact.
Why the study?
The study was designed to analyze modifications in the autonomic stress response of physiotherapy students undergoing a 12-scenario Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation.
Does undergoing different scenarios of an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) modify the autonomic stress response in physiotherapy students?
Observational (n=86)
Randomized sequence
No
Does undergoing different scenarios of an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) modify the autonomic stress response in physiotherapy students?
Physiotherapy students exhibit a large, sustained anticipatory stress response during an OSCE, with autonomic modulation varying by scenario complexity rather than emotional impact.
OSCE scenario design may warrant attention to cognitive demands; hypothesis-generating for autonomic monitoring in health professions education.
The aim of the present research was to analyse modifications in the autonomic stress response of Physiotherapy students undergoing a 12-scenario Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE). A total of 86 last year students of the Physiotherapy bachelor's degree (27.29 years (SD = 6.66); 36 females and 50 males) randomly assigned were monitored during the complete OSCE to measure heart rate variability (HRV) in temporal, frequency, and non-linear domains. The HRV analysed showed a large anticipatory stress response of students maintained during the entire evaluation. The stress response varied regarding OSCE station complexity and demands and the highest sympathetic response was not found in higher emotional scenarios.The autonomic modulation monitoring allows teachers to design OSCE scenarios more adapted to the students, limiting the effect of the stress response to allow a better performance.
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Martínez‐Pascual et al. (2022) conducted an observational in Autonomic stress response (n=86). Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) vs. Between-scenario comparison was evaluated on Heart rate variability (HRV) in temporal, frequency, and non-linear domains (p=<0.001). Physiotherapy students exhibited a large, sustained anticipatory autonomic stress response throughout a 12-scenario OSCE, with the highest sympathetic response occurring in scenarios requiring clinical reasoning rather than those with higher emotional impact.
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