Monday 14 May 2007

Testing times....(NO MORE EXAMS TILL FINALS! - HOPEFULLY)

Well that's it, 4th year exams over and done with! Perhaps option d) wasn't the best option, Today's exam was atrocious, and it wasn't because I'd done too little work. The university say we should only do about 6 hours work before the exam.

The first time went through the paper, I answered the ones I was sure about, when I looked at my answer sheet, it was a mass of emptyness. I hated almost every single one of the 125 stupid questions.

Many of the questions are stupid and vague such as this one:

A 20 year old girl is admitted to hospital and undergoes an appendectomy. 3 Days later she finds out that she has miscarried her 11 week pregnancy which she did not previously declare. She has asked to speak to a doctor because she believes she lost the pregnancy as a result of the operation and would like to make a complaint. You are the house officer, do you:

a) Listen sympathetically and then tell her that the operation caused the miscarriage
b) Listen sympathetically and then call your consultant to speak to her
c) Listen sympathetically and then explain the fact that she had previously not disclosed the pregnancy
d) Listen sympathetically and then say that the anaesthetic caused the miscarriage
e) Listen sympathetically and then tell her that the operation and the miscarriage were not linked.

(these are not the exact answers as I forgot them but they're along these lines)

It is obviously not a, d or e, but it could feasibly, in my opinion, be b or c, I went with c, but I'm not sure it's right. It is an unfair exam in my opinion as many of the questions have two possible answers. (Don't even get me started on the questions about the 'best immediate management')

Anyway its over and done with now, results in a month. OSCE results this Friday, if I've passed both, no more exams till finals! Otherwise - resits next year...I'll keep you posted.

9 comments:

missbliss said...

6 hours!?! Is that all?!?!

What kind of rubbish medicine course are you on mister?! :P

Just as well you've got a lovely bedside manner :)

missbliss said...

Anyway, my answer would be:
defo not a,d or e. I would probably explain that she hadn't declared her pregnancy. I wouldn't then leave it at that or go to the consultant - surely you'd refer her to the formal complaints procedure of the hospital?

AMiB said...

I would have gone with b, just because you're a lowly house officer and the mighty consultant should deal with this :-)

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

In my humble lay person opinion c) covers it, because if b) were chosen, it could be said that the consultant would not be the first port of call or they would be overrun.

Hmmmm c) followed by b) - if she has an attack of the hysterics.

In the unlikely event of sitting such an exam, I would end up linking choices with blue biro arrows and adding copious notes in the margins, thus ensuring disqualification.
15 May 2007 02:19

Anonymous said...

It all came rushing back!

1963 – small freckled faced girl sits 11 + exam.

Circle the odd one out: telephone, tree, letter, telegraph pole.
Easy, ‘tree’: all others a form of communication.
Whoah! perhaps it’s ‘letter’: all others begin with ‘t’
No, could be ‘telephone’: all others can be made from wood
Um ... er ... ‘telegraph pole’: all others could be in the home/garden?

Circled the obvious but, yes, wrote all the other possibilities in the margins. Re-reading my paper during the final minutes of the test noted ‘only circle one word or write in the boxes provided: do not write in the margins’.

So much for my chances of grammar school then, I thought.
15 May 2007 06:09

Ms-Ellisa said...

Oh you should have had my exam of the respiratory system. Multiple choice,A,B,C,Dand E. Could be one correct, could be more, could be all,could be none....
Beat THAT...! :-D

Anonymous said...

the key is in the question. as a house officer
your duty is to site venflons and keep your mouth shut, the consultant gets paid to be ultimately responsible for their patient.