Exams!

Hmm takut jugak exam akhir tahun ni. Purely practical exams and long case presentations. Pelik kan...dah 9 kali ambik exams pun still menakutkan.

I think I know the important bits and I know next year when I'm an intern, I can always ASK people, look it up on the online guidelines if I don't know what to do. But tau je la exams ni suka tanya benda merepek2..detailed and sometimes irrelevant.

Therefore, now in the process of serious memorising.

Definitions:
Practical exams/OSCE = We have 10 "stations"with 9 minutes at each station. The station could have:
1. Actors playing patients and we have to take their history (why they are in hospital etc) or examine them (e.g. check their heart or lungs) or counsel them (e.g. talk to them about their medicines or explain their disease to them)
2. Xrays, CT, MRI images and we have to talk about them, show where the disease is and then discuss about it
3. Have to do a procedure e.g. put in a drip, take blood, put in a urinary catheter, sutures
4. Test results like ECG, blood tests and have to interpret them and make a diagnosis
5. Have to do CPR on someone

Long case = you get an hour with a patient and have to ask them EVERYTHING. Then have to examine them and then figure out what's wrong with them. Then you have to present the case to 2 examiners who will then ask you questions about the case. Marks given on presentation skills, content, if we can get all relevant information, able to synthesise information and make a diagnosis and know how to manage the patient.

An hour is not enough!

And all this can cover anything from Medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry, General Practice, O&G and Paediatrics (!!!!!)
And Medicine has: Cardiovascular, Respiratory, Endocrinology, Haematology, Gastroenterology, Oncology, Infectious Disease, Renal medicine, Rheumatology, Neurology
And Surgery has: Orthopaedics, Vascular, Upper GI, Colorectal, Urology, Hepatobiliary, Breast & Endocrine, Trauma, Transplant, Cardiothoracic, Obstetrics & Gynae, Paediatric, Neurosurgery, Anaesthesia