Do they throw curveballs at you like patients who are screaming and wont calm down?
What about patients that are deliberately hiding info from you that you are supposed to get out of them, such as domestic abuse, or alcoholism?
Do they train the SPs to always give you the info if you ask for it directly, or do they play games and not give the info unless you spend 5 minutes hugging them and letting them cry on your shoulder?
Do the SPs just answer all the questions and act straightforward, or are some of them trained to do histrionics or avoid your questions?
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong since I only took the test once (July), but...
1) No...Well, I did have one weird one SP who kept rolling his eyes and seemed a bit agitated, but I'm not sure if that was acting or his baseline (psych vs drug abuse diagnosis). I did ask him about it (
"You seem agitated...Is there something you would like to talk about?") and he denied so I left it at that. At any rate, he answered all questions in a straightforward manner.
2) Again, I don't recall anyone deliberately refusing to answer any questions. That being said, if you didn't ask the right question, you may not get the answers you're looking for. (i.e. If you're thinking domestic abuse is a possibility, you should ask about domestic abuse otherwise, s/he won't tell you)
3) I would advise that you be as direct and specific as you can with your questions. I had maybe one crier. But as she cried (and used the tissue I provided
), she answered my questions.
4) See 1, 2, 3.
You have 15 minutes in the room. They know you have 15 minutes to get out all of the pertinent information and they act accordingly. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to see that it's not as difficult as you may be anticipating. I think I only stayed in the room for the full 15 minutes once.
The only ones that I can recall being a little bit unsure about were the ones involving kids. The kids aren't there for you to examine but you still have to make DDx based on second-hand information. Thankfully, Peds was my last rotation before CS, so I could work my way through it.
Use First Aid as your guide (although I used somebody's hand-me-down CSA book - no I'm not an IMG/FMG - with no problems) for what scenarios you will encounter.
HTH.
ETA: I took the test in Atlanta, which is where I'm from, so I had the advantage of knowing the area (but not the building) and staying at my parent's house. Also felt more relaxed when I saw one of the SP who works at my school in the instruction video (although none that I knew within the actual exam).
) so I knew that wouldn't be an issue.
