Nice to see the scores up today for February COMLEX PE. I sweated it out like many of you. Took the full 12 weeks for me, although the folks who took the exam in late February only had to wait about 9 weeks. They release the scores in waves, so some people may get their scores as early as 9 weeks, and others will wait 12. Haven't heard of anyone waiting more then 12 weeks, so NBOME is doing their best to keep it within the posted timeframe.
I just want to put some of your minds at ease, although If your like me, your mind won't be at ease until you get that score back. It's kind of wierd, I never sweat an exam, but I think the idea of having to fork over another $1600 freaked me out. It wasn't the exam that worried me, it was the cost and time of taking it again.
I, like many others, was wondering if I did enough OMM (only did OMM treatment on a few, and probably should of done it on 1 or 2 more). Palpating the abdomen and then auscultating, and then admitting to the patient that I did that backwards probably looked pretty dumb too. I was a little nervous with the first couple patients, and then found my groove...kinda. I think the key is if you are running out of time, tell the patient what you would do and get that closure with the patient. When they tell you 1 or 2 minutes overhead (can't remember the exact warning time), start your closure. Make sure and ask them if they understand what tests, labs , and plan you are doing, and make sure you ask if they have any questions. You may have a complaint that you just can't pin a diagnosis down while in the room(although I doubt it), but you should have a good idea of what tests you will need, and the patient wants to hear about them.
I think it is better to not have time to do a full neuro exam, and tell them that you will do one later, then to try and rush through a half ass neuro exam and leave the patient hanging high and dry. By starting my closure at the warning, I finished a bit early and had an extra minute to write the note.
As far as OMM goes. I did a quick scan exam of cervical, thoracic, and lumbar on every patient when I listened to the the lungs. I didn't ask them to rotate or flex/ext. I just did palpation and asked if they had tenderness there, and that was it for OMM. Of course I treated the few that needed teatment. There are lots of questions about OMM on these forums. For treatment, all you need to know is soft tissue stuff, whether its myfascial release or counterstrain. Remember wrap around the tenderpoint, and you can treat just about anything. Make sure and ask the patient if they feel any improvment...yet another thing I sometimes forgot during the day. The only person I heard of failing strictly from OMM, was someone who didn't do any OMM. Your just asking for trouble if you don't do any.
Someone that failed commented on another post that they might pick on those who are going to an allopathic program. As ludacris as it sounds, I should clarify that of all the folks I know going allopathic (>30 peeps); none of us failed, so scratch that conspiracy theory from your list folks. We all know they have no idea where or with whom we matched when they grade. Of course if I had failed, I would say otherwise
One other thing that will help those taking this exam. Get all the history. This includes social hx, and fam hx. If they say my mom passed from some disease, follow this up with I'm sorry to hear that. If they cough, offer a cup of water.
A lot of my time in the room was spent discussing aspects of the social history.
I really think the biggest help is simply reading first aid CS on the plane ride to the exam. You don't need to spend weeks preparing for this exam, as you learned the right way over the last 3 years of medical school.
I would also recommend to anyone in the planning stages of when to take this exam, to call up a couple buddies and try to take it at the same time. This cuts the cost of the rental car and hotel by 2-3, makes you more comfortable at the testing site cause your around some people you know, and you have some friends to go grab some beers with afterwards.
So basically to sum it up, I think most of us think we failed, cause we all think of all the things we did wrong. I was just like that, and fortunately that hoop is now jumped through. For those that do fail, I know some very personable, intelligent people that have failed, and I really chalk it up to a bad day. Just put things into perpective. Yes, failing sucks, but being 36 with 4 kids and dying from leukemia is much worse...that is what happened to a patient of mine last week. Kind of puts this whole PE exam thing in perspective.
Hope this helps some of you yet to take the exam, and good luck.
Peace!
