Stress during the Postgradual Specialty Examinations of Medical Doctors in Internal Medicine

Summary

The author evaluated the stressing effect of higher grade specialty examinations in internal medicine in 128 doctors who had attended a three-month specialty course.

As compared with the control period, in conjunction with the specialty examination the following findings were recorded :

a) a highly significantly increased elimination of adrenaline (to 417%) and noradrenaline (to 342%),

b) a significant increase of both blood pressures (BP_S to 111% and BP_d to 110%) and of the heart rate (to 123.5%),

c) as to the subjective condition, some sensations — nervousness, insomnia, anxiety, fear etc. with manifestations of “somatization” (e.g. urgency of urination, bowel movements etc.) — were significantly more marked.

It was thus revealed that the specialty examination is an important stressing stimulus, psychic manifestations of the stress being more frequent in women as compared with men. It was found that the intensity of stress affects the part of the examination involving tests in writing, while it does not affect the verbal part of the examination.

Key words

Stress - Postgradual medical education - Specialty examination in internal medicine