BACKGROUND:Intensive care unit (ICU) residents work in highly stressful environments characterized by clinical uncertainty and critically ill patients. During residency, physicians need to adapt to demanding workplace conditions while also navigating stressors related to their stage of life. How residents respond to stress depends on multiple personal and psychological factors, including coping mechanisms. Excessive stress may impair performance and negatively affect patient outcomes, underscoring the need to better understand its determinants. PURPOSE:This study aimed to identify baseline psychological factors and personal characteristics measured prior to ICU residency that influence stress levels across a three-week rotation. METHODS:We analyzed a secondary dataset from 54 ICU residents during a three-week clinical rotation. Before the rotation, participants completed validated measures of stress, burnout, affect, depression, anxiety, personality traits, social support, and conflict. Stress was assessed twice daily across the rotation. Associations between baseline factors and stress trajectories were estimated using generalized estimating equations (GEE). RESULTS:Compared with PGY-1 residents, PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents reported lower daily across the rotation. Higher trait anxiety and higher negative affect at baseline predicted higher stress, whereas higher agreeableness predicted lower stress, and higher conscientiousness predicted higher stress. Burnout due to exhaustion at baseline was counterintuitively associated with lower reported stress during the rotation. Other baseline factors, including burnout due to disengagement, depression, social support, and conflict, were not significantly associated with stress. CONCLUSIONS:Baseline psychological profiles meaningfully shape how residents experience stress during ICU rotations. Identifying these factors prior to clinical training may help target interventions to support residents at higher risk of stress, thereby enhancing both physician well-being and patient safety.
OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONSA time-motion laboratory study was conducted to assess the performance of individuals with intellectual disabilities on a warehouse pick-and-place task. Over a five-week period, following an initial one-week training session, participant performance was tracked to evaluate improvement with practice. The data were then compared to predetermined time standards established by the Modular Arrangement of Predetermined Time Standards (MODAPTS). The findings indicate that with targeted training, these participants may be able to achieve a pace comparable to that of neurotypical workers. This research provides evidence that the successful integration and employment of individuals with intellectual disabilities can be expanded.
OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONSClosed-loop communication (CLC) is widely used to support teamwork in high-risk settings; however, current approaches do not fully capture the complex and dynamic nature of communication in surgical practice. This study presents a practical method for coding and measuring CLC that better reflects real operating room interactions. The proposed approach captures both verbal and functionally equivalent non-verbal responses, as well as multi-party communication patterns. New breakdown and performance measures identify where coordination fails and quantify how reliably communication is completed across roles. For ergonomics and human factors practitioners, this approach provides systematic methods and metrics to assess teamwork quality in high-stakes environments. The method can be used to identify where coordination problems occur across different roles and support targeted communication training. These measures are also applicable to other high-stakes environments, such as aviation and emergency response, where reliable communication is essential for safety and performance.
Occupational ApplicationsThis study shows that time-critical automation intervention requests increase drivers' visual-motor demands, reflected in measurable changes in driving performance and posture (i.e., limb engagement and trunk positioning) during transitions of control. These responses indicate that maneuver urgency and takeover timing can place elevated biomechanical and coordination demands on drivers, particularly in work-based automated driving. For ergonomics and human factors practice, the findings underscore the need to design automated transportation systems (e.g., ridesharing services) that align request timing with operators' physical and perceptual capabilities. In occupational settings such as automated shuttles and fleet-supervised vehicles, intervention requests should provide adequate preparation time for visual-motor coordination, limit concurrent steering and braking actions, and support stable trunk and lower-limb postures during control transitions. System designers and fleet operators should treat automated driving as a work system, integrating interface timing, alerts, and control transitions to support safe and sustainable on-the-road performance.
Occupational ApplicationsThis study demonstrates that office task demands and virtual reality (VR) headset support devices substantially influence neck and upper body responses during VR-based office work. Tasks requiring frequent head and eye movement caused higher neck muscle activity and greater cervical range of motion, whereas more visually focused tasks led to more static postures. Two VR headset support prototypes-a spring-based counterbalance, and a 3D-printed shoulder-mounted brace-reduced neck muscle effort relative to the standard head strap, showing potential to mitigate physical strain during prolonged use of a VR headsets. However, the shoulder-mounted brace restricted head movement and increased trunk motion and neck discomfort. For ergonomics practitioners, these findings highlight the importance of balancing load reduction with natural movement of the neck. Lightweight and adjustable headset support designs that preserve a wide range of head and trunk motion can help reduce musculoskeletal risk as VR becomes more common in occupational settings such as office, remote work, and training.
