See the RCEM Website for the breakdown of stations
Personal Experience:
I sat this exam in January 2020, just before the pandemic came to Europe. I remember reading the papers the morning after, which were reporting high numbers of deaths from this terrible disease in Wuhan, China and I was worried that we would be dealing it with it soon after. Lo and behold here we are still trying to manage this pandemic in 2022! However, I digress.
I started
to prepare for this exam in late October 2019. I used the MRCEM OSCE book and
started ticking them off as I went along. From Day 1 I started practicing my
answers and my exams aloud and I think this was a huge help to me on the day as
I had so much practice in. I decided to use the contents of the book to guide
my study and thus studied each in chronological order. I would bulk up any
deficits in the book either with my trusty Tally & O’ Connor (still going strong
ten years later) and my Oxford Handbook. For my resuscitation stations I used
the ALS guides/algorithms and my ‘Revision Notes FRCEM Intermediate SAQ Paper’.
I found the equipment stations such as a Thomas splint or the slit-lamp the
hardest to prepare for. I found helpful colleagues to go through them with me in
advance which gave me the confidence to know I could at least recognise the item
if it were presented to me. Could I operate them both perfectly? Absolutely
not, but I was optimistic that those two stations were unlikely to come up on
the day. Or at least not both of them and I could hopefully afford to do poorly
in one of them. Strategy is key for this one as some of the stations won’t be
your forte and you can’t let it knock your confidence as you go into the next
room and start all over again. I made peace in my head that I needed to pass
the majority of the stations, not all of them. So when a station went poorly,
and there were at least two that really shook me up, I just had to suck it up
and persevere onto the next. If I were to offer one piece of advice it would be
you’re not looking for perfection you’re looking to be good enough, that made
it easier for me to get myself into gear on the day.
Recommendations:
Time-frame: 3-4 months
Study Plan:
1. Buy the MRCEM OSCE book –
use it to guide your study
2. Start practising aloud
from day one. I really mean it. There are so many stations to get
through, all extremely varied, and it’s hard to switch between your best psych
history to running your best PEM resuscitation and then on to crisis
counselling a distressed patient.
3. Write out each OSCE as
you intend to do it – almost word for word. Bulk up the details using
other references such as Tally & O’ Connor, the Oxford Handbook and the
FRCEM Revision Notes for the SAQ. Stick to your same script every time.
4. Know your ALS algorithms
by heart – if you can do an ALS course before your exam that will be a
great help.
5. Find a friend or
colleague and practice on them. On the day all of the patients will be actors
so the stations will be much quicker than if you were assessing a real patient.
I felt it wasn’t of benefit to me during the exam prep to practice on patients
(which I was assessing anyway at work) as those interactions are usually much
longer. Time your OSCE practice on a friend and colleague and get them to mark
you as you go along, using the MRCEM OSCE book.
6. Look at how each topic
is weighted – This should guide your revision. Don’t neglect your communication
stations for resuscitation!
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