This was an abbreviation I had seen so much of during my research into studying medicine at university. Now, this was going to be my main assessment for second year!
An OSCE is essentially similar to the MMI stations that you will (have) sit to get into uni. The stations are made up of a number of sections and each OSCE will have a certain number of stations in total. For my exam, there were three stations with each being divided into three sections.
Each station would test an aspect of the content that had been taught in both years 1 and 2. It would involve a history or an examination on a patient with a presenting complaint, so like chest pain or breathlessness. It would then be followed with an interpretation task. So this could be looking at an x-ray (to test anatomy), processing lab data (to test practicals and lecture content) or interpreting graphical data. Finally, would have to explain something to the patient (ie. what they have, how to use an inhaler etc) or activate them to change their lifestyle (ie. stop smoking, stop drinking alcohol etc). The station could also have a clinical skill which we would’ve learnt In our clinical encounters, like dipsticking urine or doing a manual blood pressure.
But there were three of these stations to break it up (eg. One on chest pain, one on breathlessness and one on abdominal pain).
The examiner would sit there with a clipboard and tick as you were talking and working with the patient. The patient was an actor pretending to have the condition, or real patients who had what they were actually describing (eg. Psoriasis).
The whole exam lasted an hour. (Each station was 20 minutes)
It was great how the exams were so practical and you actually felt like a medical professional whilst speaking to the actor patients. It was very pressurising, like any exam, as the trick was to look both confident and friendly. In these examinations, you're being tested on both your person skills as well as your knowledge!
I got my results about a month later and was over the moon with a pass! Roll on Year 3...
