When Surgeons Skip Water: Exploring the Feasibility of Real-Time Sweat Sensor Data and Its Potential Value in the Operating Room

Surgeons maintain intense focus and accuracy while completing complex tasks under significant stress, opening the door for research and interventions to optimize surgical performance. Dehydration is a potential target as it is common among surgeons and linked to worsened mood, focus, and psychomotor skills. Objectively monitoring sweat rate and relative dehydration has potential to elucidate relationships between hydration and cognitive performance in the peri-operative environment. This mixed-methods approach sought to assess the feasibility and value of continuously monitoring surgeon hydration with biosensors. We found that current hydration tracking technology is unable to reliably determine skin-based fluid loss in the operating room. Additionally, survey data from 24 surgeons revealed an average daily non-caffeinated fluid intake of 47 ounces per day, which is below recommended amounts. Semi-structured interviews (n=14) revealed desire for improved real-time hydration data due to the frequency of reported “purposeful dehydration”, negative dehydration symptoms, and self-imposed break avoidance.