Cortisol and alpha-amylase as stress response indicators during pre-hospital emergency medicine training with repetitive high-fidelity simulation and scenarios with standardized patients.

Background: In emergency medicine, the benefits of high-fidelity simulation (SIM) are widely accepted and standardized patients (SP) are known to mimic real patients accurately. However, only limited data are available concerning physicians' stress markers within these training environments. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate repetitive stress among healthcare professionals in simulated pre-hospital emergency scenarios using either SIM or SPs.