Periodic intraoperative microbreaks with calesthenic exercises performed within the sterile field improvedself-reported mental focus (38%) and physical performance (57%) for 56 surgeons. Therefore, targetedstretching exercises and a web-application (web-app) leading the stretches with a reminder system weredeveloped and piloted using user-centered design principles. A focus group with 10 users was conducted torefine the developed app. Seven surgeons (4 females) at a quaternary medical institute piloted the periodicstretching web-app in their operating rooms. At the end of each surgical day, the surgeons completed ashort survey about the intraoperative stretching exercises web-app impact on their physical performance,mental focus and workflow disruption. Non-Routine Events were captured during the procedures. Twelvesurgical days were followed with a median of 6 microbreaks/day/surgeon. Results showed that betterphysical performance and lower fatigue were reported (91.7%) across the surgical days, also better mentalfocus was reported (83.3%) across the surgical days, and less pain/discomfort was reported (100%) acrossthe surgical days, with others reporting no change. The web-app leading sterile field microbreak stretcheshelped reduce physical pain, discomfort/pain, fatigue, and improve mental focus with minimal disruptionfor a small sample. The web-app is a promising tool for improving surgeon mental focus and physicalperformance and potentially musculoskeletal health.
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