first year osces

osce time

Its a bright sunny day in Newcastle - summer is truly here! OSCEs have also just rounded-up and here are my uber-quick thoughts:

Day 1:
1/10 - Hand Exams Felt fluid. Covered the major bases before failing to do a Phalen Test! Examiner said ‘Well-done’ at the end. What a jokester.

2/10 - Information-Giving to a Mother with a Child with Viral Ear Infection requesting Antibiotics Quite straight-forward to explain that antibiotics aren’t recommended at all for viral infections. Six minutes is a long time so easy to waffle (guilty!) but overall managed to address concerns of the patient’s mother.

3/10 - Cranial Nerves (except Eyes + Ears) Exam This is a tip. Assume the volunteer is a patient not healthy. Covered all the major nerve components and concluded the station. Job done? No, just before the end I asked the patient if her loss of smell was real. Turns out she was a patient. Oh dear.

4/10 - Lower Leg Swelling History Covered this well as I could have (given my very open questions leading to lengthy verbose replies). A slightly too focused family history may cost me.

5/10 - Blood Pressure The sound of Korotkoff sounds was simply music to my ears. Remember to write the date of the BP.

Day 2:
6/10 - Sexual History Empathy sensitivity and delivery critical with this one. Felt I covered those domains well (despite some slight day two first station nerves!).

7/10 - Breast Exam Another highly sensitive station. I felt I covered this well.

8/10 - GI Exam Time was tight for this one! Inspection was lengthy but comprehensive. It was a race to finish on time and I did not quite manage to squeeze in our post-examination recommendations. Good otherwise.

9/10 - Headache History A lot of systemic symptoms to get through beyond the headache and general symptoms. Felt I managed the best I could. Oh yeah and listen to the patient. They’ll tell you a lot more that may tick further boxes.

10/10 - CPR With work on my oxygen delivery technique, I think we’ll be okay with this one in the future.

and next

And that wraps up second year! Results in just under a month. Clinical placements start next week in North Durham (lots of new people to meet!). Even better days are still ahead!