The Impact of High Fidelity Simulation on Stress Level in Medical Students.

High fidelity simulation (HFS) is an established method of training in various fields of medicine, especially emergency medicine, anesthesiology and intensive therapy. One of the benefits of HFS as an educational tool is the protective environment, where the risk of error do not bring harm to the patients. It is proven that HFS is successful in acquisition of new knowledge and skills and may facilitate positive behavioral change in medical students. However, this education method may cause elevated stress levels as well as other physiological reactions. Other than sympathetic nervous system reactions such as heart rate and blood pressure, there are a few laboratory stress level markers such as cortisol, alpha-amylase, testosterone and secretory immunoglobulin A. Our aim was to evaluate the change of stress level induced by high-fidelity simulation in medical students.