Study of Mental Effort in Anesthesia Nurses During Different Phases of Surgery Using NASA-TLX Questionnaire

What this Trial Is About

This observational study focuses on measuring the mental effort, or cognitive load, experienced by anesthesia nurses during real surgical procedures at Hospital Clnic de Barcelona, Spain. It aims to understand how cognitive load varies across the three phases of anesthetic care induction, maintenance, and emergence or recovery. The study also compares cognitive load during general anesthesia versus spinal anesthesia with sedation and explores how surgical specialty, patient complexity, and alarm perception relate to nurse cognitive load. Participants in the study are anesthesia nurses who complete the Raw NASA Task Load Index NASA-TLX, a validated questionnaire assessing mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, performance, effort, and frustration. The questionnaire is filled out three times per surgical case at specific time points corresponding to anesthetic phases. Additionally, nurses answer four questions about monitor alarm perception after each case. No changes are made to clinical care during the study. Participants complete the NASA-TLX after key anesthetic phases post-induction or spinal block, during maintenance, and after patient awakening or sedation reversal. The study collects data on alarm management and cognitive load during surgery without altering usual nursing tasks. The main outcome measured is the global NASA-TLX score across these phases. Secondary outcomes include subscale scores and visual analog scale ratings of alarm perception. Participation adds about 11 minutes per surgical case, and the study duration extends through February 2027.

Intraoperative Cognitive Load in Anesthesia Nurses Across Anesthetic Phases