My Mock OSCE

Yep, the dreaded OSCE which I had been talking/ranting about for the past couple of weeks is over.

After many practice sessions, and many days worrying about it- it's finally over.

We were tested on 4 stations:- 2 physical examination ones, and 2 history taking.

I did quite well in the Cervical lymph node palpation station. It certainly did help that Dr. Daw Khin Win was there. She was very reassuring, nodding and acknowledging my every step. I couldn't really answer the questions she asked about TB though. She said ' You did quite well' and it boosted my confidence.

Behavourial Science station was- let's just say a bit of disorientation on my part. For one, my dumb brain didn't think of holding the tiny slip in my hand upon walking in, and so I had to waste time (one minute according to Dr. Ranjit) searching for the damn thing in my pocket. See the stupid things I do?
Another minute taken to settle down- according to Dr. Ranjit again. The patient was rather cooperative though, in that once I apologized for the delays and troubles she went through, she calmed down almost immediately. I did manage to take an entire fever history from her. But when I reached the Q&A station- there were mostly questions on lymph node enlargement. For a certain period of time, I almost thought that I was in the wrong room/ saw the wrong set of equestions. I think it's because I forgot/didn't have time to ask her about any other symptoms bothering her besides the fever.

Next- examine the patient with right pleural effusion. Dr. Htin Aung just had to be the examiner. Gah. I knew the sequence, I knew the steps. So I was doing the steps methodically and hopefully confidently. He asked me a question about tracheal deviation which I wasn't able to answer. In the end, I didn't finish auscultation! Dr. Htin Aung was looking at me and finally said ' Do you know that the time is up already?' Well, at least he didn't yell. I have to practise on time management. I didn't even start with general examination - which some people did. And yet I still couldn't finish.

The history taking station was ok. No examiner inside...just patient alone. Patient seems a bit irritated at times. But I managed to finish asking all the components, which I never managed to do during the normal CSU sessions.

So yeah....that's it about the mock OSCE. :) I have to do well for the real OSCE exams! I need more practise than others, since I tend to be slower than other people and have weaker hand and practical skills.

eta: I know my blog has been rather pictureless lately.....so my next blog post will definitely consist of pics, even if random ones :p