Wearable pilot reports improved burnout scores in medical and pharmacy students
Students assigned an Apollo Neuro device had better burnout and wellbeing scores than a waitlist group, while resilience and alcohol use showed no significant changes.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
This small trial offers preliminary evidence that receiving the wearable may improve reported burnout and wellbeing among medical and pharmacy students. It does not establish how large or meaningful those improvements were, because the abstract provides no effect estimates. Resilience and alcohol use did not show statistically significant changes, leaving those outcomes uncertain.
This abstract-based account concerns survey outcomes in a pilot trial. The abstract gives no effect sizes, confidence intervals, device-use details or results beyond the study period.
What researchers found
Burnout and wellbeing questionnaire scores
At 12 weeks, device users improved versus waitlist controls on the Maslach Burnout Inventory total, selected burnout subscales and Medical Student Well-Being Index; effect sizes were not reported.
What participants reported
Students completed questionnaires about burnout, wellbeing, perceived stress, resilience and alcohol use. Reported improvements included emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, alongside overall burnout and wellbeing scores. The abstract does not give a separate result for perceived stress.
How the comparison worked
Researchers randomly assigned students either to receive the wearable or to wait for it. Surveys were collected before and during follow-up, making the reported comparison one between device recipients and students on a waitlist.
The original publication
Evaluating the impact of Apollo Neuro™ wearable on wellbeing in medical and pharmacy students: A preliminary prospective randomized controlled study.
McKennon SA, Bindler RJ, Miller JC et al.
Am J Med · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40816518
- Record checked
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