The practicals

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I practiced possible scenarios with classmates and studied whatever was fair game. Side story, classmates would judge the dfficulty of the practical by checking how much I was pitting out in my dress-shirt.
 
I practiced possible scenarios with classmates and studied whatever was fair game. Side story, classmates would judge the dfficulty of the practical by checking how much I was pitting out in my dress-shirt.
thanks for your respond but i don't really understand that last sentence lol
 
my biggest concern is how do you prepare to answer the questions that the instructor is gunna ask
 
thanks for your respond but i don't really understand that last sentence lol

I think Sheldon meant by sweating bullets? The more she sweated, the harder the practical was? Iono.. Shrug.
 
Practice religiously. Hit the lab as soon as it opens and practice for hours. Cry.
 
Make a schedule. If you have three courses with a lab, designate at least one night a week to practice. I usually stay an extra hour or two after classes end to practice. Those labs are open, and you're paying for them, so use them. I wouldn't say you need to practice religiously, but you need to be consistent. Use the criteria sheet that the professors give you.

It also helps to work in a group of three or four, that way one person can be a grader, another can be a student, and another can be the patient.

Don't go home when classes end. Stay an extra hour and practice. It will definitely help you pass.

Kevin
 
To go along with the advice of "practice," you can also ask each other (study partners) questions to practice answering things on your feet. Try practicing a session fully through, instead of breaking up skills and examining several unrelated body parts or performing unrelated skills back to back. That helps you to see what it will be like to organize yourself with a theoretical skill or scenario from start to finish.

During a practical, it can also help to try and think of your patient as a real encounter (as best you can). Pretend like you've never met the patient (even if it's a faculty member or classmate) and inquire about their injury or condition as if it is real. Don't be afraid to take your time and even state "I just need a minute to think about that" if something catches you off guard.

Although I never did it, I know that some of my classmates would talk through skills and their thought processes aloud throughout the practical session for the grader and mock patient to hear. I guess this helped them to stay calm and organized, and to make sure that everything was getting done.
 
Practice on as many people as possible. It's not just about passing the practical, it's about familiarizing yourself with variations of anatomy and clinical reasoning.

Honestly, the lecture alone is ample preparation for answering clinical Q's. A lot of it comes from the ability to recall the basic sciences and integrating it with therapeutic and/or movement based scenarios, i.e, supine to sit, sit to stand, stand pivot, goni, palpating, therex, etc. Just about everything is patient specific and has more than one intervention or method of approach. I would also keep in kind the precautions and any co-morbities.
 
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