Y. P. Puckett1, T. Pham1, R. Richmond1, C. Ronaghan1 1Texas Tech University Health Sciences,Surgery,Lubbock, TX, USA
Introduction: Eye-tracking is a research tool that is more accessible than ever. Eye movement recordings can provide dynamic measurement of a person’s visual attention and focus. We performed a prospective analysis on physician focus and attention before and after a shift utilizing a low-cost, visual tracking device.
Methods: Single institution prospective study was performed on surgical residents and attending physicians (APs). The visual tracking device was utilized to compare differences in attention before and after 12 and 24 hour surgical residency shift to assess for possible neurological impairment. The test stimulus is a target that moves clockwise in a circular trajectory for 10 seconds. Pupil tracker is utilized to measure focus and attention. Classifications of the test results ranged from 1-4 (Low Average (1.0), Average (2.0), High Average (3.0), Superior (4)). Paired t-test was used to assess for statistically significant difference.
Results: A total of 21 subjects were tested before and after a 12 or 24 hour shift of clinical duties. Females comprised 61.9% of the population. The mean age was 33.7 (SD9.5). PGY-1 accounted for 52.4% of population, PGY-2 (9.5%), PGY-3 (4.8), PGY-4 (19.0%) and APs (14.3%). Focus score overall decreased by a mean of 0.62 or 22.8% for all physicians. APs had the biggest score drop (49.8) %, followed by PGY-4 (25%). There was no statistically significant difference in focus between a 12 and 24 hour shift. Clinicians over age 30 had a mean score decrease of 0.786 (28%) (p=0.010) while those younger than 30 had a decrease in focus score of 0.289 (10.9%) (p=0.456).
Conclusion: Senior surgical residents and attendings appeared to be impacted by shift work the most while junior residents displayed resilience in focus during call. There may be a trend in decline of focus and attention span with increasing age. Future work will focus on correlating physician burnout with declining attention scores.
