Surgeons' biological stress responses during fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery exercises: A descriptive study

Dr Aaron K Budden; Prof Amanda Henry; Prof Claire E Wakefield; Prof Jason A Abbott

doi:10.1016/j.jmig.2026.03.011

Surgeons' biological stress responses during fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery exercises: A descriptive study

J Minim Invasive Gynecol. 2026 Mar 13:S1553-4650(26)00182-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jmig.2026.03.011. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Dr Aaron K Budden¹, Prof Amanda Henry², Prof Claire E Wakefield³, Prof Jason A Abbott⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Clinical Medicine, Health and Medicine, Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UNSW, Sydney, Australia; Gynaecological Research and Clinical Evaluation (GRACE), UNSW, Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: a.budden@unsw.edu.au.
² School of Clinical Medicine, Health and Medicine, Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UNSW, Sydney, Australia; Department of Women's and Children's Health, St George Hospital, Sydney, Australia; The George Institute for Global Health, UNSW Medicine and Health, Sydney, Australia.
³ Discipline of Paediatrics, School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Behavioural Sciences Unit, Sydney Children's Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
⁴ School of Clinical Medicine, Health and Medicine, Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UNSW, Sydney, Australia; Gynaecological Research and Clinical Evaluation (GRACE), UNSW, Sydney, Australia.

PMID: 41833718
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmig.2026.03.011

Abstract

Study objective: Adverse surgeon stress can contribute to poor non-technical skills and burnout, impacting surgical performance and patient outcomes. Identifying surgical stressors is key to improving surgeons' and patients' wellbeing. We aim to describe biological measures of surgeon stress during laparoscopic exercises.

Design: Prospective Cohort SETTING: Simulated laparoscopic exercises were completed in an isolated research setting.

Patients: 26 Surgeon volunteers INTERVENTIONS: Participants completed peg transfer, pattern cutting, and intra-corporal knot exercises from the fundamental laparoscopic skills curriculum in neutral and stressed (ergonomic, time pressure, or noise) conditions. Measures of cortisol, HR, and HRV were recorded at baseline and during simulation and NASA task load Index (TLX) post simulation.

Measurements and main results: 26 surgeons participated, with wide variation in biological response to laparoscopic exercises. Surgeons' mean scores from baseline decreased for cortisol (10.1 vs. 7.2nmol/L), increased for mean and maximum heart rate (79.2 vs. 88.6bpm; 95.8 vs. 109.0bpm), and were unchanged for HRV. Proportionally, 22% of surgeon-simulations recorded increased cortisol, 79% increased maximum HR, 42% increased HRV low-frequency to high frequency ratio, and 70% increased HRV standard deviation of beat-to-beat. Mean HR was higher during "neutral" exercises relative to "stressed" exercises, however a greater proportion of HRV measures were higher in "stressed" exercises. Changes in HR were not significantly correlated with physical dimensions of NASA-TLX.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates current biological measures are widely variable within and between individuals. Overall, the discriminatory capacity of these measures for stress detection and tracking when using pooled means is poor.

Keywords: burnout; cortisol; heart rate; heart rate variability; physician; simulation; stress; surgeon; surgery.