Dataset Information

Mindfulness Is Related to the Situational Awareness of Medical Students Confronted with Life-Threatening Emergency Situations.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Emergency medicine can impose a heavy psychological burden on healthcare workers. Stress experienced during life-threatening situations may disrupt situational awareness (SA), i.e., the perception of environmental elements with respect to time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their state into the near future. We aimed to investigate whether mindfulness (a special way of paying attention: conscious, non-judgmental, and oriented to the present moment) can be related to the SA levels among final-year medical students confronted with life-threatening situations during medical simulations.

Methods

The simulations were constructed as high-fidelity scenarios in children and adults (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03761355). The components of mindfulness were assessed using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire. SA among students was assessed using The Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique at three levels: (1) data, (2) comprehension, and (3) projection.

Results

In total, 117 students were included. Level 1 SA positively correlated with the overall mindfulness score and its components, i.e., nonreactivity, conscious presence, and nonjudgment. Moreover, level 3 SA significantly correlated with the description, but not with the overall mindfulness score. A regression model showed that nonreactivity explained 34% of Level 1 of SA variability. The addition of conscious presence and nonjudgment into this model did not change its predictive value.

Conclusions

nonreactivity a component of mindfulness of final-year medical students is related to the meticulous data collection of patients in life-threatening situations.

SUBMITTER: Chmielewski J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8124909 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:OBJECTIVE:Mental illness has persistently been found to be a leading cause of death during pregnancy and the year after birth (the perinatal period). This study aims to explore barriers to detection, response and escalation of mental health-related life-threatening near miss events among women with perinatal mental illness. DESIGN:Qualitative study. PARTICIPANTS:Healthcare professionals (HCP) working in psychiatry, maternity and primary care (n=15) across community and hospital maternity and perinatal services within the UK. METHODS:In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with a range of healthcare professionals working with women during the perinatal period. An iterative process of inductive and deductive thematic analysis, informed by systems theories of healthcare and the Three Delays model, was employed to analyse the data. RESULTS:Three overarching themes were identified: recognition of severity, communication of risk and service provision and access to treatment. Differing perspectives of mental illness severity influenced how life-threatening situations among women with perinatal mental illness were described, recognised and communicated between teams. Under-resourced mental health service provision, particularly within emergency and specialist perinatal mental health services, unclear thresholds for escalating care and poor infrastructure for sharing information all contributed to delays in a timely response to crisis situations. Reluctance to prescribe medication or admit women to psychiatric hospital, stigma and missed appointments created further delays. CONCLUSIONS:Response and escalation of care for life threatening near miss events among women with mental illness is strongly influenced by professional culture and understandings of mental illness embedded within different healthcare disciplines. Focusing on how differences in organisational and professional culture contribute to the recognition of severe mental illness and interdisciplinary communication may help facilitate clearer co-ordination between teams.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Gender is an important social determinant, that influences healthcare. The lack of awareness on how gender influences health might lead to gender bias and can contribute to substandard patient care. Our objectives were to assess gender sensitivity and the presence of gender stereotypes among swiss medical students. METHODS:A validated scale (N-GAMS - Nijmegen Gender Awareness in Medicine Scale), with 3 subscores assessing gender sensitivity (GS) and gender stereotypes toward patients (GRIP) and doctors (GRID) (ranging from 1 to 5), was translated into French and was distributed to all medical students registered at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland in April-May 2017. Reliability of the three subscales was assessed calculating the alpha Cronbach coefficient. Mean subscales were calculated for male and female students and compared using two sample t-tests. A linear model was built with each subscale as a dependent variable and students' sex and age as covariables. RESULTS:In total, 396 students answered the N-GAMS questionnaire, their mean age was 22?years old, 62.6% of them were women. GS and GRID sub-scores were not significantly different between female and male students (GS 3.62 for women, 3.70 for men, p =?0.27, GRID 2.10 for women, 2.13 for men, p =?0.76). A statistically significant difference was found in the GRIP subscale, with a mean score of 1.83 for women and 2.07 for men (p <?0.001), which suggests a more gender stereotyped opinion toward patients among male students. A trend was observed with age, gender sensibility increased (p?<?0.001) and stereotypes decreased (GRIP p =?0.04, GRID p =?0.02) with students getting older. CONCLUSION:Medical students' gender sensitivity seems to improve throughout the medical curriculum, and women students have less stereotypes towards patients than men do. The implementation of a gender-sensitive teaching in the medical curriculum could improve students' knowledge, limit gender bias and improve patients' care.