Step 2 CS Physical Exam

[m250]

How detailed does the PE portion of CS need to be? Some people have mentioned that only doing the absolute basic steps is all that is needed (ex. only listening to heart sounds in 4 areas for entire CV exam or only listening to 6 areas on their back for entire Pulm exam) in order to pass. For those who have completed and passed CS, how much detail did you go into for some of the major system exams (CV, Pulm, HEENT, Abdominal, etc)? Also, is there a checklist somewhere that includes the required steps for each system?

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[Cerberus]

I didn't do a very detailed exam and I just went through the motions (i.e. listened to the heart for about 1 sec in each position).

 

[bikedoc1021]

i'd also love some feedback on this one. my exam is next tuesday!

 

[thesauce]

i'd also love some feedback on this one. my exam is next tuesday!

Took it today. I did not feel good about it. I ran out of time on one case and didn't close or provide counseling for that one. My differentials and workup plans sucked. About the only thing I felt good about were the notes but I was writing so much during the encounter that I felt it detracted from my repoir. I'm freaked.

 

[Blesbok]

Took it today. I did not feel good about it. I ran out of time on one case and didn't close or provide counseling for that one. My differentials and workup plans sucked. About the only thing I felt good about were the notes but I was writing so much during the encounter that I felt it detracted from my repoir. I'm freaked.

:werd: That is exactly how I felt when I was done.

I ran out of time and got two sentences of counseling in on one lady with a psych thing. One of my DDxs was in the wrong order #3 should have been 1. I didn't document a CV exam on a lady that I did it on (although not a heart complaint). I didn't pull out the leg extension for one person until they looked at me kinda funny then I remembered. Then there were a few little things like not documenting PERRLA on people that I documented CNII-XII intact.

My Hx I always felt was pretty good and other than those things I noted, my notes were pretty good.

I will probably find out the same day you do though, so I can't reassure you.

 

[thesauce]

:werd: That is exactly how I felt when I was done.

I ran out of time and got two sentences of counseling in on one lady with a psych thing. One of my DDxs was in the wrong order #3 should have been 1. I didn't document a CV exam on a lady that I did it on (although not a heart complaint). I didn't pull out the leg extension for one person until they looked at me kinda funny then I remembered. Then there were a few little things like not documenting PERRLA on people that I documented CNII-XII intact.

My Hx I always felt was pretty good and other than those things I noted, my notes were pretty good.

I will probably find out the same day you do though, so I can't reassure you.

I think the stressful part is that we have no idea how they're grading us. It could be that they mark you down for esoteric garbage like forgetting the leg extension (I did that on someone too). Heck, maybe they wanted Rinne and Weber on everyone. Since we're not given any info and there's no right or wrong answers, per se, we have to just hope we fit into their subjective criteria. I would love to know: what causes the 3% failure rate of AMG? They definitely speak English so that's not it.

 

[bikedoc1021]

i agree with thesauce...i mean, really how subjective can an exam be? it's absolutely ridiculous that we pay $1000 for an exam that we have no information about requirements, grading criteria, importance of different aspects, etc. i honestly believe they might randomly fail ~3-4% just to keep it as part of the licensing criteria. on another note...

does anyone actually do orthostatics on patients? i mean, to do it properly should take at minimum 3-4 minutes, which is insane when we have 5-7 minutes total for the PE.

also, has anyone ever actually done the dix-hallpike maneuver during the exam? i can't believe a test that isn't even mentioned in BATES could be required as suggested by FA.

i feel like i've been damn good at the SP exams at my school and did fine on my OSCE but this thing is freaking me out a bit...

 

[East2WestDoc]

:werd: That is exactly how I felt when I was done.

One of my DDxs was in the wrong order #3 should have been 1.

Then there were a few little things like not documenting PERRLA on people that I documented CNII-XII intact.

Man I did these things too and my notes look sloppy but still legible. I hope these things don't mess any of us up in the end.