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Introduction
Have confidence in your
abilities.
You have reached the Part 3 by passing the Part 2
This means:
you are highly intelligent and in the
top 20% of your peers who sat the Part 2,
you have a great theoretical knowledge
of O&G,
you have good practical
knowledge of O&G,
you have the ability to pass the part
3.
And remember that everyone else is in the same boat as you.
Sian Bullough scored 95% in the Part 3 in November 2019 and won the gold medal.
Her preparation must have been perfect to achieve such a remarkable score.
Fortunately for us, she has provided a summary.
You can find it here.
You need to be clear about what is expected at the stations: more on this below.
You need to sort out good communication skills and get a lot of practice: more on this below.
You need to practise basic blurbs, like explaining recessive inheritance or the concept of risk: more on this below.
You need lots of practice with someone who can provide constructive criticism: more on this below.
We will deal with all of this in the tutorials, so I advise that you listen to them. Find out how here.
1.
You only get marks for doing what you have been asked.
You must read the question
carefully and several times so that you know what you have to do.
You may need to take longer than the 2
minutes that are usually advised.
2.
Agree an agenda with the role-player.
In the stress of the exam it is easy to
forget things and miss easy marks.
Make sure you cover the key tasks and domains - always try to include patient safety.
What are the key things she wants discussed?
What are the key facts you need to provide?
3.
Remember the domains described by the exam committee.
How many apply to this station?
The domains are:
a.
Patient safety
this is likely to feature in almost
every station
start at the top:
WHO, Centres for Disease Control,
NICE, RCOG,
National Patient Safety Agency,
then local:
Trust Safety Committee
Departmental risk management
arrangements
including
adverse incident reporting.
b.
Communicating with patients and families
there is advice on the website:
http://www.drcog-mrcog.info/communication.htm.
communication skills need thought and practice.
start practising early so that they are comfortable and routine before the e
c.
Communicating with colleagues
use the phone in urgent situations or
when you need to discuss something,
it is your responsibility to ensure that important communications get to
their destination.
this is discussed over and over in the recent Maternal Mortality Reports.
Typical is the following from the 2006-8 Report:
If information is required from another member of the team, it is not enough to send a routine request and hope for a reply.
The recipient must respond promptly, and if not, the sender must follow it up.
Teams should be reminded that the telephone is not an
obsolete instrument.
d.
Information gathering
you need a model for taking an obstetric and a gynae history: we will
discuss this in the tutorials
when taking a history about a
treatment:
what was it and did it work?
were there complications?
when taking a history about a drug:
did it work?
were there side-effect?
were there allergic reactions?
remember family history
e.
Applied clinical knowledge
make sure you answer all her questions
pros and cons of all the available options with safety always mentioned.
what additional information does she
need, e.g. for informed consent?
4. There will be new stations that you have not heard of.
Do not panic. Everyone else is in the
same situation and the pass mark is likely to be low.
Be clear about what you have been asked
to do.
What information have you been given?
What other information would you like
to have?
What would you do in clinic or if
discussing this with a colleague?
5. If, like me, you speak with a non-English accent, speak slowly so
the natives understand.
6.
Concentrate on the one you are dealing with
and forget the disasters, what you might have said etc. .
Forget the things you might have said or the errors you made.
There will always be a station that you thought disastrous.
All of our gold medallists have been in touch after the exam convinced that they had failed!
Many people fear they will be failed
because they said something wrong
This rarely happens.
I was an examiner for
more than 20 years and
never saw it happen.
It would only happen because of
persistent & dangerous statements.
Getting a drug name or dose wrong will not count.
The examiners know you are under stress and make allowance - they want you to pass.
There are blocks of text that
come up time and again and you can usefully prepare:
how to introduce yourself,
how to deal with a GP referral letter,
how to encourage the patient to ask
questions,
how to explain recessive inheritance
etc.
It makes sense to get as many as possible prepared and practised so that you are fluent on the day.
You need to avoid trying to explain something like X-linked inheritance for the 1st. time in the exam.
Practise with a non-medic who can tell you when you are using medical jargon and not explaining clearly.
8.
Get a study buddy and do lots of practice.
It is essential to do lots of practice.
how to plan your answer to the station
what are going to be the scoring points
for the station
and most importantly: your
communication skills.
The best things are lots of practice
and constructive criticism with a study buddy.
If you can think of
anything useful to add to this document, please let me know.
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