Assalammualaikum.
Huurrrmmm..... I can smell freedom. :D
Wellll, what should I write about now?
How I fared for my OSCE today?
Or how am I anticipating tomorrow's freedom?
Let's start off with the OSCE.
There were 5 stations altogether; 3 PE stations and 2 history stations. The PEs were: patient with haemothorax, BP measurement and palpation of the abdomen. I think I did fairly well for the first 2. *clap clap and grin*
You see, once we start reading the question outside the room during the 40secs they gave, we're supposed to visualise how the patient should be positioned in the room, what examination are we going to perform, and what should we expect in that case. And usually, students get caught when the station requires the patient to be examined while lying flat but when we came in, the pt was lying on a propped up bed. The student should REMEMBER to correct the bed. And I did.
So, after the exam, I went out of the Skills Centre with friends and in that hustle of other students discussing the case, scolding some examiners, scolding themselves, someone came and asked me, "Did you realise that the patient in the abdomen palpation station was CROSSING HIS LEGS?" And I was "WHAAATTT????" I didn't notice anything at all! He wasn't supposed to cross his leg, and if he was I should have realised and asked him to uncross his legs. *dush!*
So yes, that's how I fared for the last station, I'm not sure how many marks that cost me. Rumours are if you got the position of the patient wrong, you FAIL that particular station, and one station is 20marks. Please, just minus few marks, don't fail me. Please please please.....
And one of my weakest skill is taking BP measurement. But today, thanks to Him, the patient's Korotkoff sound was very clear and audible. And I think I managed to get a reasonably accurate BP. But, I forgot to inspect the arm before taking BP. Teeeet, minus mark!
And the student before me wasn't able to complete the station, she came out in a rush, later than usual. So it gave me that "OMG this station is gonna be hard" feeling.
And while putting on the BP cuff on the patient's arm, I was practically trembling, trying to be CORRECT and FAST at the same time. And when I inflated the cuff, there was this velcro sound, the sound you hear when you pull apart the BP cuff after measuring BP, know that sound? Yes, that was the sound, indicating the BP cuff I applied on the patient's arm wasn't secure and tight enough, but I didn't have time to correct it so I just continued. And luckily nothing bad happened, bad as in the cuff fell down or the examiner asked me to re-do etc.
History station, nothing much to say. Just this one patient, I asked him if his fever came with any other illness, he said "No". But he kept combing his hair with his finger so I asked if he's having rashes, then only he admitted he's having rash. And that was the hint that lead me to ask other questions and apparently, he's suspected of dengue. Thankfully, I realised his act of scratching himself, or I won't be able to arrive at my possible diagnosis.
Why was I disappointed with the OSPE yesterday?
Let me tell you, there was this one station, with 4 pictures.
They were pictures of the machines one will find in a blood bank eg blood centrifuging machine etc. The questions required us to name the 4 machines, state their functions and at what temperature are they operated on. And it cost 10 marks!
I can only identify correctly one of them i.e the blood centrifugation machine (I THINK it is one) and functions of the 3 other machines, and the temperature of one of them.
I hope I can at least get 5 marks for that. And that wasn't the only difficult station.
Ok, another 5 stations of OSCE to go tomorrow!
Hope I'll do it alright. =)
And after that, is freedom time!
I'm excited with this coming holiday as I planned a lot of things to be done already. I hope I'll have the time to complete it all. =)
*smile*
-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com
Wednesday 30th June 2010
11.50pm
Wow. A v. valuable description for future students. I bet you could make some money putting your medical traiing online as a 'pay-per-view' hahaha!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the crossed legs bit. Does that matter in regard to the case/examination? And was it fair to have it as a grade-worthy correction that had to be made? - I don't know, I'm not trained on that matter. But I wonder if a patient really do such a thing? It seemed a bit unrealistic in a way.
The things you describe about your medical course sometimes take me by surprize. Such as nameing the machines. You could have made a joke of it. I'll name this machine is Abdul... etc but i guess your examiners would not have been amused!
Hahah... I'm not sure if future students are reading this but, I'm trying to capture all the memories into these posts so that I can read them again, and laugh over it in future. =p
ReplyDeleteWell, the crossed legs issue. I'm not sure about the marking scheme. But "they" (as in friends and seniors) said, once one start with the position of the patient wrong, whatever one do after that doesn't count, because the basics are not there. I'm just hoping for the best though. The examiner looked pretty happy with my performance in that station, APART from the fact that I didn't notice the patient's legs (if he really did cross them).
Hahah... Yes, naming the machine using my own created names will be interesting, and funny. And in fact, I almost drew those cute little smileys on my answer papers.
"once one start with the position of the patient wrong, whatever one do after that doesn't count, because the basics are not there." hummm Interesting how the physical 'lay-out' of a patient can give false results (if that what you or your seniors are saying?)
ReplyDelete