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Prepare You – Managing Stress at the Head of the Bed

NextGen Learning To Elevate Your Airway Practice

Stress KillersPerformance Skills
Stress LabWhat’s Next

Taking on the head of the bed is stressful, and feeling that we can’t or won’t perform how we would like to is common. We have the knowledge, but our minds betray us in a moment of need. This is because we neglected to confront the impact that acute stress has on us. Fortunately, there are ways to inoculate ourselves against that stress response. We show you how here, as part of successful preparation for the head of the bed

Stress can degrade your performance in specific ways. Here, we highlight three stress-related killers often seen in failed airway scenarios so you can recognize them in yourself or your team members and be better prepared to deal with them when the situation arises.

Performance Enhancing Skills

Here, we give you four techniques you can practice to enhance your performance under pressure and prepare yourself for the head of the bed. Each method provides you with all the resources for self-guided practice and in-person learning in our performance lab.

box breathing
  1. Listen to the intro audio 🎧
  2. Use the GIF to practice 🫁
  3. Use it before any procedure
visualization skills
  1. Listen to the intro audio 🎧
  2. Watch the FONA procedure video
  3. Use guided audio to visualize
  4. Then try it without the audio
positive self talk
  1. Listen to the intro audio 🎧
  2. Write down three positive self-talk phrases
  3. Practice using them
triggers
  1. Listen to the intro audio 🎧
  2. Write down a trigger phrase
  3. Practice using it

Visit the Performance Lab

During live events, these techniques can be practiced with team partners and coaches in our performance lab. Check out the space and the series of performance-enhancing exercises built into the program to take your skills to the next level. 💪

Summary

Remember it’s not all on you. Learning to manage stress is important, but reducing it is also important. Techniques for team communication and support, cognitive offloading, and reducing complexity are all part of being comfortable in the role. Getting started on the next part of the journey is as easy as scrolling down.

What’s Next

Find Or Click Me

Nice work—you’re through this section! To keep going, scan the QR code on the physical poster at the next station in our pop-up training space to access the next set of digital content. Prefer to stay online? Just click the poster image here to continue your journey.

Reference – Psychological Skills to Improve Emergency Care
Providers’ Performance Under Stress
Michael J. Lauria, BA, NRP, FP-C*; Isabelle A. Gallo; Lt Col Stephen Rush, MD;
Jason Brooks, PhD, MSc; Rory Spiegel, MD; Scott D. Weingart, MD

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