BioFusion In Practice

The Challenge

A medical professional’s ability to make the most logical and accurate decisions possible is critical to patient safety. The increasingly complex responsibilities and fast paced roles of medical professionals, who experience regular distractions and interruptions, can cause avoidable medical errors, if those medical professionals could better understand and therefore handle stress. It is crucial for medical professionals to be able to understand how they perform under stress beginning at the learning stage.

BIOFUSION™

Stress and anxiety have been studied extensively over the past years, however, the studies thus far have not utilized technology. KbPort™ BioFusion™ enables educators to measure focus and stress levels of learners in order to better educate and debrief them.

KbPort™ collaborated with the University of Pittsburgh Pharmacy program to conduct a study, utilizing BioFusion™ technology to understand what happens to learners during simulations in terms of physiological effects, and how that data can be used to improve learner outcomes. BioFusion™ sensors are wearable, and for this study, measure the heart rates of learners. Depending on customer need, BioFusion™ can capture other physiological data such as brain waves, galvanic skin resistance, and respiratory rate.  

PART ONE

The first part of the study, used BioFusion™ sensors to measure the heart rate of learners during three different types of simulated events: basic pharmacy tasks, interacting with doctors, and interacting with patients. The data generated from this portion of the study showed that interacting with doctors caused learners greater stress and anxiety.

PART TWO

For the second part, the study was conducted on the learners again, after nine months of experience in residency. The purpose of this portion of the study was to collect more data to compare it to the previous portion, in order to conclude whether or not awareness of stress along with experience had reduced stress or improved outcomes in the sim lab.

The study is still being conducted. Stay tuned for updates.