OSCE Preparation?

[beyondbethany]

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Any suggestions on how to prepare for an OSCE? Is it even possible? I have my first one this week for the end of my surgery rotation and I'm a bit nervous. All we know is that we will complete a clinic visit for some surgical disease. It includes 15 min with the pt, 10 min for note writing, and a presentation to an attending.

 

[DrBowtie]

I will bet you $ that it will either be appendicitis or gallstones/cholecystitis.
If you want a book, get FA for CS

 

[officedepot]

there's no real good way to prepare for these things. Hopefully you have learned a good deal of how to do this stuff while on your rotation because that is the best practice.

When it comes to the type of patients just think basic surgical stuff like RUQ pain, epigastric pain, appendicitis, upper or lower GI bleeds, etc. etc. It's not going to be something that is really vague and won't work with a standardized patient... hopefully...

 

[deleted263296]

Write down the patient's age and vital signs as they will likely be given to you.

Introduce yourself. Wash your hands before you forget.

Interview the patient. As they will most likely have a chief complaint of pain, do your standard pain questions: onset, location, radiation, aggravating/alleviating factors.

Examine the patient. Make sure to drape them and auscultate the heart and lungs under the gown.

Give the patients your thoughts on what is wrong. Ask them if they have any other questions.

Wash your hands.

Write your note and think about what labs/tests you want. Present.

 

[lemonade90]

I am new to this...are osce and oral exams based on stuff you learn on your SPECIFIC rotation from your SPECIFIC institution or created from some sort of nationalized body (a la NBME)?

 

[PTPoeny]

All my 3rd year OSCEs were really basic diseases. The important things for OSCEs are to introduce yourself, wash your hands, keep the patient comfortable, explain to the patient what you are doing and don't actually do anything to the standardized patient. If there is a model in the room do as much of the exam as possible on the model.

Oh, also if the patient doesn't know the answer to a question you are either going too detailed or in the wrong direction. One difference from real patients is that a standardized patient will never forget anything, if they say they never had surgery don't bother asking about the median sternotomy scar, they will have made up some silly story and it is irrelevant.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Don't force a rectal exam and you will pass.

 

[Tiburon]

Any suggestions on how to prepare for an OSCE? Is it even possible? I have my first one this week for the end of my surgery rotation and I'm a bit nervous. All we know is that we will complete a clinic visit for some surgical disease. It includes 15 min with the pt, 10 min for note writing, and a presentation to an attending.

First Aid for Step 2 CS is pretty good. I know at least my med school tried to make OSCEs just like what we would face for Step 2 CS, so FA for CS turned out to be a good resource.

 

[JerryMeister]

ask for permission to fart, belch, and bring in dancing girls before you do it