Chronic stress can lead to physiological illness. Emergency physicians in danger of developing such illnesses due to their demanding working environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the physiological stress level of emergency physicians (EPs) of the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) between emergency operations in one shift. Furthermore, the phases of the operations were compared with respect to the activity of the autonomic nervous system. The physiological and self-perceived stress levels of 20 EPs were recorded on a HEMS air-rescue-day (age: M = 44.95, SD = 4.80). The measurement of the heart rate variability (HRV) was performed during a complete air-ambulance day and examined using analyses of variance. The heart rate rises significantly at the beginning of the emergency operation to its highest value after landing at the operation site. The HRV parameter standard deviation of all NN intervals shows a significant decrease between the alarm phase and the end of the operation. Furthermore, high values were reached regarding chronic stress. On the Symptom Checklist-90 the EPs show lower values than the norm sample. In conclusion, over the course of three emergency operations, no physiological fatigue indicators were found. In contrast, the subjective stress load was assessed as high among EPs and on average higher than the norm sample. Compared to standard values, the EPs showed lower HRV values, which indicates a strong activation of the autonomic nervous system. These lower HRV findings might be caused by a high psychological stress load.

慢性压力会导致生理疾病。急诊医生因其苛刻的工作环境而有患上此类疾病的危险。本研究的目的是调查直升机紧急医疗服务 (HEMS) 的急诊医师 (EP) 在一次轮班的紧急手术之间的生理压力水平。此外，将手术的各个阶段与自主神经系统的活动进行了比较。在HEMS空中救援日（年龄：M  = 44.95，SD）记录了20个EP的生理和自我感知压力水平 = 4.80）。心率变异性 (HRV) 的测量是在一个完整的空中救护日期间进行的，并使用方差分析进行检查。心率在紧急手术开始时显着上升，到达手术现场后达到最高值。所有 NN 间隔的 HRV 参数标准偏差显示在警报阶段和操作结束之间显着下降。此外，在慢性压力方面达到了高值。在 Symptom Checklist-90 上，EP 显示的值低于标准样本。综上所述，在3次应急操作过程中，均未发现生理疲劳指标。相比之下，主观压力负荷在 EP 中被评估为高，平均高于标准样本。与标准值相比，EP 显示出较低的 HRV 值，这表明自主神经系统的强烈激活。这些较低的 HRV 结果可能是由高心理压力负荷引起的。