OSCE

The MS2's are spending this weekend taking the OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination...just know that it's pronounced "oskey" and it means that we have a clinical skills exam). We need to pass the 4-hour OSCE to participate in our core rotations next year.

The OSCE was pretty enjoyable and fast-faced...we ran around to 6 stations with different scenarios and standardized patients. Some stations focused on a particular organ system (patient with lung problems, abdominal pain, sinus infection, actual neurological findings!) and others were focused on patient-doctor communication (delivering serious news, trying to explore sensitive issues). My only critique is that it was a little frustrating trying to decipher which patient tidbits we were supposed to notice and explore and which we should ignore because we are still practicing and playing an elaborate game of "make-believe." For example, a patient who complains of "shortness of breath," but who sits there calmly with a RR of 10 and lungs CTA. Or a standardized patient (SP) who glances at the clock twice and expects me to ask her why she seemed anxious. The OSCE can easily devolve into an elaborate game of "guess what I want you to do."

Overall, however, the OSCE was really valuable and we had to pass it to do clinical rotations next year. I am really glad that we did the OSCE with our Foundations of Patient Care (FPC) groups, because it was actually really comforting to see Carson, Rodney, Miguel, and Jason (my "POD," we are whales or peas) there. We're like a little family. :)

Today we had our final FPC dinner at Park Chow and ate ginger cake!