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The NW course is probably the local course for trainees in the north of England and Wales and the south of Scotland.,
Full details click here.
I must declare an interest as I help to run it.
List of contents.
You pass the Part 2 exam and know that most people pass Part 3.
PANIC! PANIC! You don't want to be the one who fails the "easy" part of the exam after all that effort.
But good candidates do fail the Part 3, usually this is due to lack of technique or praxtice.
Of course, you need a lot of knowledge, but passing the Part 2 proves that you have it.
You need to keep your knowledge up to the standard if there is a significant interval between your Part 2 success and the Part 3.
What you need now is technique.
And lots of practice to ensure that your performance is impressive on the day.
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I think you should go on a course if you have not done an OSCE style exam before.
They are so different that you don't want the experience for the first time on the day of the exam.
And there are techniques you need to learn like:
time management,
preparing your thoughts and a plan before starting the station,
good communication skills,
handling a viva, now euphemestically called a structured discussion,
dealing with specific stations like a labour ward scenario, an obstetric emergency etc.,
emptying your head after each station so that you are not wasting time thinking about how you might have given a better answer
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RCOG courses in London and elsewhere.
The RCOG runs courses in London.
They are regarded as very good.
I used to teach on them before I became too ancient and can vouch for their quality.
The feedback I get is that they remain worthwhile
Nowadays the College takes its courses to other countries.
I think this is great.
Coming to the UK and paying for accommodation can cost a small fortune.
Add the cost of the course and you are paying a great deal.
If you can find one nearer home, it will be a lot more convenient and cheaper.
But of identical quality to the ones that are run at the College itself.
You can find the courses on the RCOG website.
The London ones are very popular and booking only starts when the Part 2 results are out, so you need to be quick to book on one.
They tend to be fully booked within a few hours of the Part 2 results being released.
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Where should I stay in London if I book a course at the RCOG?
A lot of trainees have stayed at the YMCA Indian Student Hostel.
Although it has Indian and Christian in its title, it is used by all nationalities and religious groups.
The feedback I get is that it is basic but clean and reasonably priced.
It is within walking distance of the RCOG.
Another advantage is that you are
likely to meet with other exam candidates.
You can stay at the RCOG, but the accommodation is expensive and limited.
Travelodge hotels are a bit less basic than the YMCA, but more expensive.
The nearest is at Marylebone: http://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/info?hotelId=312.
It is about a mile from the RCOG.
There are lots of other hotels.
You can locate them by using one of the internet companies such as Booking.com.
It lets you search by area, but does not recognise the RCOG.
Put in Baker Street and it will come up with a load of hotels near the college.
You then need to work your way through to find one that suits.
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What do courses offer and what are their limitations?
This is really important.
There is a notion that courses are the comprehensive answer to preparing for the Part 3.
They are not.
All you can expect them to do is give you the experience of doing a Part 3 circuit.
And an appreciation of the techniques you need to survive.
But they don't teach technique; they simply don't have time.
I hope to have about 20 Part 3 tutorials - the number depends on the availability of local Part 3 candidates.
That is about 40 hours and there is no way a one or two day course can replicate that.
You do the circuit and at the end of each station the examiner says a few words.
There may be some kind of introductory and concluding remarks, but a full circuit takes a lot of time.
In the tutorials we spend hours practising simple things like how to introduce ourself.
You would think it would take a few minutes to get that cracked, but it takes a lot longer.
You couldn't expect a course to replicate this in the time available.
You need to find another way to get the techniques.
I hope to cover all the essentials in the tutorials.
They are also discussed in the Part 3 books and StratOG.
You then need to practise them over and over - for which you need at least one study buddy.
It is also helpful to practise explaining things such as recessive inheritance or the concept of risk to a non-medic.
They will tell you when you are using technical language and concepts with which they are not familiar.
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Which courses should I consider?
The obvious thing is to look first at those nearest home.
You might be able to attend from home and save the hassle and cost of hotels and distant travel.
Listen to the views of colleagues about the courses they went on.
Who better to tell you what a course is like and whether it is value for money?
I think all the courses will give you similar training.
Which means little or none!
They concentrate on providing the experience of doing a cicuit or two.
There might be some time spent on technique, but it will be severely limited because of the time available.
Be realistic about what courses can offer.
One thing to look out for are courses in which you go round the circuit in pairs.
At half the stations you are active and perform like a candidate.
At the other stations you are just an observer.
This might be OK if you are partnered with a potential gold medallist and can see brilliant technique.
But it is more likely that you will be observing someone who is no better than you and you are mostly wasting your time.
I suspect that these courses are just adding people to get more money.
I would not pay to go on such a course.
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Does the Manchester course offer anything different?
The Manchester course is different to most others.
A unique feature is that I usually run a tutorial the next day to deal with the stations that proved difficult.
The course is usually on a Saturday and we spend 5 or 6 hours on the Sunday in the tutorial.
I think this is the ideal package.
Do the circuit to see what it is like and learn the types of stations that you need to work on.
Then discuss and practise appropriate techniques the next day.
I don't charge for the tutorial, so it is like a 2-day course for the price of one.
And the opportunity to learn and improve techniques, which most other courses do not give.
Lamiya lists me as a co-director, but the reality is that she does all the work!
As Lamiya writes all the stations, I don't know about them in advance, so it is good for my aged brain to have to think of best technique.
There is information here about the date of the course and how to apply.
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How many courses should I go on?
There is a tendency to go on as many courses as you can afford.
I think this is a waste of money and may even be a disadvantage.
You are unlikely to learn anything new from a third, fourth or fifth course.
The downside is that every circuit will have a station at which you do badly.
One course = 1 bad station.
Two courses = 2 bad stations etc.
Go on 5 courses and you
have 5 bad stations and begin to think you are no good!
My advice is one course,
two at the most.
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How do I acquire the skills that courses don't teach?
Listen to the tutorials / podcasts.
And follow the advice on the website.
There are books for the Part 3, but I have not read them; ask your colleagues.
StratOG also has materials, but I have not used them.
Sian Bullough, who won the gold medal in 2019, mentions them.
You already know most of what you need.
Get a tutorial from an anaesthetist about adult resuscitation.
Similarly, get a tutorial from a paediatrician about neonatal resuscitation.
Get the theatre sister to show you all the basic instruments including hysteroscopes and cystoscopes.
Get her to show you the diathermy machine and explain how it works.
If you have not seen colposcopy / hysteroscopy, attend a couple of sessions.
Practise tying knots in case you have a station in which you have to teach a junior.
There are books that give examples and they are helpful.
But I haven't found one that really deals with all the techniques.
Technique 1 is how to cope with an OSCE circuit.
The best way to learn is by going on a course that provides at least one OSCE circuit.
The key things are basics:
time management,
forgetting what you said or did not say at a station as soon as it is over: concentrate on the station you are at,
taking time at the start of each station to read the information about the station carefully,
taking time at the start of each station to write a plan for the station, just as you would with an essay.
Technique 2 includes all the techniques for the different types of station.
How can you learn them?
We are back to the tutorials and the advice on the website.
Make sure you polish your communication skills.
Get a friend or relative to act as roleplayer.
Practise your introduction, explanation of recessive inheritance, breaking bad news etc.
Get someone to act as an examiner and practise vivas.
It is very hard to talk for 15 minutes with an examiner showing no response.
Start practising so that you are not learning how to do it on the big day.
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How do I practise the skills necessary for the exam?
The ones you need to practise most are the communication skills.
You need someone to practise with.
Possibly the best will be another exam candidate - they will be as motivated as you to put in the time.
But a non-medical person is very useful as they can pull you up on the use of medical jargon.
And tell you when your explanations do not make sense.
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