Question on CS patient note form

[LFSdriver]

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I am starting to practice writing patient notes on usmle.org's software (usmle.org/practice-materials) to familiarize myself with the system and get comfortable with the character limits.

What I'm finding is that in the history section if I hit "enter" to start a new line, the word count bar jumps up like 20% 😱

There is no way I can write even an average note by making new lines. This leaves me with writing everything in one big paragraph which is ugly and I'm not used to doing (OCD med student and all)

Is this normal with the software, and how it is in the real exam?

Thanks everyone, and GL to people taking theirs soon!

 

[Elach]

You won't have that problem in the exam.

 

[coffeebeanjenn]

I had that problem on the exam, actually. I was used to writing notes in bullet points, but had to switch to prose
because every return added a ton to the character amount (not sure if it was 20%).

 

[LFSdriver]

20% might have been a tad hyperbolic, but it is at around 10 %. Basically I can get to PMH if I make new lines. I can never get further than that. And my HPIs are very concise, I'm following how FA recommends doing them.

Fortunately there is plenty of space for the physical exam box.

 

[Elach]

Really? I had the same problem on the practice PN on the USMLE website and also freaked out, but on the day of the exam I could skip lines without space-consuming problems.

I took it at Atlanta.

Weird.

 

[thankyoulambie]

According to USMLE's PN practice program page (http://www.usmle.org/practice-materials/step-2-cs/patient-note.html), you have the following character limits:
History - 950 characters
Physical Examination - 500 characters
Differential Diagnosis - 80 characters for each diagnosis
Diagnostic Workup - 80 characters for each workup recommendation

 

[Rittenhouse]

I had this problem on the actual Step 2 CS as well. Every one of the encounters, I ran out of room in the history section of the note. And I practiced ahead of time, just as you are doing. I had to go back and edit sentences to make then half sentences, which annoyed me (type A about grammar, especially in patient notes).