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Hi everyone,

I am in my first year of my Podiatry degree and I have an OSCE exam looming ... (next week) ://

I’m so nervous because I just have no idea what to expect, and therefore no idea what areas I should revise and practice ...

Any advice that you can give me would be HUGELY appreciated! For exam I know that the OSCE will consist of 10 stations with different scenarios, of which we are given 5 mins for each station, however I have no idea what type of "typical" OSCE questions to expect? as there are no past exam papers to familiarise myself with.

I also have a 2 hr written CLINICAL EXAMINATION a week after my OSCE and again, I have no past papers to look at for that either ...

I’m so scared and anxious about this its worrying me so much!

I hope there is someone out there who can help me and give me some ideas ...

Many many many thanks in advance

Nicola v

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Hey Nicolalouise

First of all, BREATHE!!! Try to keep as calm as possible. Read the task in each station carefully before you act. OSCEs are always a bit scary but it is probably stuff you have done before in clinic. I'm not sure which uni you are at, but I expect they are all pretty similar in content. I can't remember exactly what the first year one involves as I'm quite an old woman now but I will try and give you a few pointers and hope that someone blessed with a better memory or more recent experience can pitch in too. The best plan is probably to try and talk to some of the 2nd or 3rd year students who have all been through it more recently and also to your tutor, who may well give you some helpful pointers.

I'm struggling to remember all the stations I did but I can recall these:

A vascular assessment - probably locating pedal pulses and/or doppler use
A neuro assessment - probably demonstrating monofilament use
Perhaps a BNF task - perhaps looking up interactions
Maybe talking through the steps of CPR

Try to read back over your notes on any practical tests/assessments that you have been taught over the year (which may also crop up in your "Clinical Examination" exam too?). You'll be surprised how quickly the time passes in each station so make the most of your time. The examiner is not there to catch you out, just to observe your technique. They may ask you a few questions relating to the task in hand, but usually it's more of a demonstration that they want you to give.

Anyone else help any further?.....

PS - I would think that one of the 10 stations is likely to be a "rest" station where you can collect your thoughts for 5 mins. Pretty sure we always had one of those.

hi im also a first year and have just had osce/clinical exam. for us we had to function on vascular assessment, some ranges of motion and lots of dermatology (nail pathologies etc.).

it seems very daunting but just remember the things you have been taught when dealing with patients and you will be fine. the people who did struggle with it on our course were people who made small mistakes and forgot things like treatments for nail pathologies etc.

i asked my gf to pretend to be a patient and went through my basic assessments with her. this helped me massively and made me feel more confidant going in.

best of luck

ben

Know your anatomy, location of pedal pulses, doppler, nail pathologies, range of motion in joints etc. Just think about the factors you tend to deal with in clinic.

You will be fine! It's been a while since I done mine but I was always nervous too, it's natural!

Good luck!!!

Hi Ella, Blumley and Fancyfeet - thank you so much for taking the time to read my post and get back to me ... I have listed all the key points that you have noted, and shall try to borrow someone to be my guinea pig (so to speak) over the weekend ... and Ella, learning that there is a rest station incorporated in the OSCE is somewhat refreshing to hear

Anymore comments and advice would be welcomed! Any practice or useful revision techniques that anyone can recommend or websites to help me remember certain anatomical features? Adv on how to learn and really understand what I am studying? Any advice about learning the GAIT cycle? (as I think that they may inc this is the clinical examination and the OSCE) ... because the difficulty I seem to have as a learner is that I can read until I am blue in the face, but still feel that I am no closer to understanding the concepts ... and I think it is rather pointless to just try to remember things (for exams sake) without actually really understanding what and why we are learning the subjects that are part of the course ....

Oh I wish I could just wish the human body had useful features like a download button f- just click the button and the information magically appears in your brain! hehehe ... if only ...

Again - thanks for any feedback

Nic

I went to the same uni as Ella.

10-g monofilament was not until 2nd year.

Know how to locate a pulse, do a BP, hot/cold, propioception, tuning fork.

Do a PPA. Do ROM, use the BNF.

Doppler also. You won't need to do an ABPI until yr 2.

I did mine in 2000! I can't remember the others.