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Tonight we started with a discussion about how to prepare for the written.
The key things are already in the document that I send to people when they first get in touch with advice about reading etc.
Key things:
You need to know what to read.
Start with the syllabus.
Read the advice on the website.
And have a system that makes you read analytically and enables revision.
And have a system that makes you read analytically and enables revision.
Write lots of essays under exam conditions.
You need to start making a list of topics for last-minute revision.
staging of cancer, primary amenorrhoea, ten top recommendations from the Maternal Mortality Report etc.
these need to be in note format so that you are revising them, not learning them from new.
You need to arrange study leave in the week or so before the exam.
Consider going on a course.
If you haven't had a copy, send me an e-mail - see "contact" above for the address.We discussed the MCQs.
Some people find them useful, some don't.
Their main virtue is that they more or less cover the syllabus.
But they are preliminary reading, so you need to get through them in a month or so, not longer.
We discussed the courses available in the NW.
There are two courses in the NW.
The first is the written course in July: http://www.drcog-mrcog.info/north_west_mrcog_course.htm
This is run by Dr. Varsha Mulik and is a good course with lots of essay-writing and EMQs.
Then there is the Bolton OSCE course.
The date has not yet been fixed, but it is usually 3 or 4 weeks or so before the OSCE.
The course is run by Mr. Phil Chia, who is not interested in making money, so it is a fraction of the cost of other courses.
You do two full circuits and there is none of the business of going round in twos, one active, one an observer.
The organiser is Carol Hardman.
You can book a place now and if you don't get through the written, you can let Carol know and she gives the place to someone else.
There is no financial penalty for doing this.
The main virtue of this course is that it takes place on a Saturday and on the Sunday, I have an all-day tutorial to deal with the stations that were a problem.
The course always overbooks, so, if you want to go on it, book a place early.
We then wrote an essay:
A 55 year old woman is referred by her General Practitioner after a single episode of post-menopausal bleeding. Critically evaluate the management.
I allowed 25 minutes for the essay and then we discussed it.Write the essay in 25 minutes with no preparation and send it to me.
I'll send my version, which has the above discussion included.
We discussed the importance of starting now with preparation for the OSCE.
In particular communication skills.
If you decide on the words you are going to use to introduce yourself, you can start practising them with your patients.
They are then completely normal by the time you come to the OSCE.
There is a section of the website about this: http://www.drcog-mrcog.info/communication.htm
Then we did an EMQ.
This question is about cystic fibrosis.
For each scenario choose the option that gives the best answer.
Each option can be used once, more than once or not at all.
And, to make you behave in a model fashion, there is no option list, so you have to decide the correct answer.
Scenario 1.
A woman is 8 weeks pregnant and known to be a carrier of cystic fibrosis.
Her husband is Caucasian.
What is the risk of the child having cystic fibrosis?
Scenario 2.
A healthy woman attends for pre-pregnancy counselling.
Her brother has cystic fibrosis. Her husband is Caucasian.
He has been screened for cystic fibrosis. The test was negative.
What is the risk of them having a child with cystic fibrosis?
Scenario 3.
A healthy woman is a known carrier of cystic fibrosis.
She attends for pre-pregnancy counselling. Her husband has cystic fibrosis.
What is the risk of them having a child with CF?
Scenario 4.
A healthy woman attends for pre-pregnancy counselling. Her sister has had a child with cystic fibrosis.
What is her risk of being a carrier?
Scenario 5.
A woman attends for pre-pregnancy counselling. Her mother has cystic fibrosis.
What is the risk that she is a carrier?
Scenario 6 .
A woman attends for pre-pregnancy counselling. Her mother has cystic fibrosis.
The partner’s risk of being a carrier is 1 in X.
What is the risk that she will have a child with CF?
Scenario 7.
A healthy Caucasian woman is 10 weeks pregnant.
Her husband is a known carrier of cystic fibrosis.
Which test would you arrange?
Scenario 8.
A woman attends for pre-pregnancy counselling. She has read about diagnosing CF using cffDNA from maternal blood. Is it possible to test for CF in this way?
Scenario 9.
A woman and her husband are known carriers of cystic fibrosis.
What is the risk of them having an affected child.
Scenario 10.
A woman and her husband are known carriers of cystic fibrosis.
What can they do to reduce the risk of having an affected child?
Scenario 11.
A woman and her husband are known carriers of cystic fibrosis.
Can CVS exclude an affected pregnancy?
We discussed the answer, but I think the best thing is for you to answer the EMQ and send it to me.
I'll then send my version of the answer, which has full explanations.
So, for once, there is nothing to listen to.
