The Unofficial Guide to Passing OSCES

by Zeshan Qureshi (Editor)

Overview

OSCE examinations are used worldwide as a critical part of medical student assessment, yet there is often little preparation for them provided by medical schools. The Unofficial Guide to Passing OSCEs is intended to fill this gap. It includes over 100 scenarios, covering medical history taking, clinical examination, practical skills, communication skills, plus specialties, meaning that everything is covered in one place. To bring the cases to life, over 300 full color clinical photos are included, including patients with features of important diseases. It also includes clear outlines of how to relay the assessment of a patient to an examiner or to other doctors on a ward round, and model answers to common questions put to students/junior doctors in OSCEs. This book has relevance beyond examinations, for post graduate further education and as a day-to-day reference for professionals.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780957149908
Publisher:	National Book Network
Publication date:	02/01/2012
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Zeshan Qureshi is a Paediatrician based at Great Ormond Street and the Institute of Global Health. He graduated with Distinction from the University of Southampton, and has published and presented research work extensively and internationally in the fields of pharmacology and medical education. Whilst working in Edinburgh he was part of the leadership team developing a near peer teaching programme, where by junior doctors, throughout south east scotland, were both trained to teach, and delivered teaching across every hospital in the area. This book is an extension of this philosophy: that junior doctors and fresh graduates know how to express complex ideas in order for it to be easily understood from a students perspective. That junior doctors can teach, and write in a complimentary way to senior doctors: one that is friendly and fun, easy to read and relevant to both exams, and the day to day to life of junior doctors.

Editorial Reviews

The Unofficial Guide to Passing OSCEs, a book that started off as an idea to collate notes amongst a group of good friends studying for their finals is today venturing into its third edition, getting even better each time! A hearty congratulation to the authors is definitely in order! OSCEs are a daunting time and sometimes the pressure just gets a little ahead of you at that specific moment of time; the authors realized this very early on whilst pursuing their degrees and hence came up with this fantastic revision tool. The aims of this book are to provide the student with a structure and enable them to apply their magnificent clinical skills learnt after hours of hard work on the wards in an examination setting. It provides the student with simple basic reminders which are important nonetheless at the same time explains and exemplifies how to approach the more intricate and difficult stations. The best bit about this book is that it gives you examples of potential stations hence you can easily use this book with a friend and practice different stations with a guide informing you on your progress. This book has been revised thoroughly since its conception and now includes even more stations, scenarios and tips to get you the grade you want, not only pass but to do so with flying colours! Wishing you the very best of luck in your upcoming examinations.

Shamit Shah

There are few experiences more daunting for medical students than facing the clinical OSCE. The examiners’ faces are often unfamiliar, the pace is out of their control and there is little opportunity to go back and correct mistakes. However, in many ways, those are features of real world practice where junior doctors have to respond to events in real time. For that reason, many medical educators consider the clinical OSCE as the ultimate objective test of readiness to practice. For many years now I have been in the enviable position of merely having to tick the boxes on the marking form. However, I’ve not forgotten the stress that the occasion can induce in even the most talented of students. My advice to my own students is that the best way to mitigate the effects of the inevitable stress, and to perform well when the bell sounds, is to be well prepared. The Unofficial Guide to Passing OSCEs is intended to support students as they make those preparations. The chapters are clearly written, in simple language that should appeal to students and reflect the fact that the authors themselves have recently been OSCE candidates. It has been my pleasure to work with many of the authors of this book in recent years. They are all part of what I believe is a genuine re-invigoration of the art of teaching amongst junior medical staff that bodes very well for the future of medical education in this country. I am pleased to see that their enthusiasm and talent has culminated in the writing of this book. I hope you will find it valuable as you yourself get ready for the bell to sound.

Simon Maxwell

I am a medical student from St Georges and find that the book is very good for several reasons. Firstly, it is the first OSCE book to actually have all the specialties in place. Generally, things like psychiatry or obstetrics & gynecology are usually missed out or if they are covered, they are done very sparsely. This is the first book that I have seen to actually cover all the specialties with good depth. Secondly, having read the different sections, I love the 'PRESENT YOUR FINDINGS' section at the end of each section. How many times have we as medical students found ourselves being put on the spot to present to a senior doctor? I have been looking for a book to tell me how to do this, and this book does just that. It also teaches how to present Chest X-rays and ECGs using very good illustrations, which I have found lacking in several books. Finally, I find the structure of the book easy to follow with nice and simple explanations. In addition, there are several sections that are not there in any other OSCE books such as the paediatrics section on Non-Accidental Injury, which is something that is so easy to throw into an OSCE in all medical schools, as it is becoming more and more common. All the chapters are also very well laid out with differential diagnoses just next to the history sections in those chapters, which is a nice added feature. All in all, a good investment that I would recommend to all my fellow students out there and I am anxious to get stuck into the rest of the chapters.

Venkat Thiagarajan

This book is amazing and I don't think I would have passed my exams without it.

Cath Roels

As suggested by its name, The Unofficial Guide to Passing OSCEs is a well presented learning and revision guide for medical students. Well over 70 people have been involved in the creation of this informative guide which is now in its Third Edition. It is essentially a concise collection of informative guides covering core and popular OSCE stations. The guide’s method of creation allows it to be used in multiple ways by readers – there is wealth of knowledge covering each OSCE station. The important and basic features of each skill are clearly highlighted via concise lists, tables and much more. The book quite rightly contains all the essentials that you would typically expect of a book in this format – including but not limited to illustrations, photographs, radiology images and graphs. The manner in which The Unofficial Guide to Passing OSCEs is written provides great appeal; the majority of information is written succinctly, allowing easy digestion and learning by the reader. Where necessary, the authors expand on information and provide links to the relevant resources. The numerous colour images describe the associated text very well. Overall, this provides a good overview of each skill without over-reliance on descriptive text and a revision tool that medical students should find easy to work with. ‘Present Your Findings’ sections are especially beneficial in this guide – it is hard enough for a student to perform a skill thoroughly, let alone having to present the findings of the skill in a logical orderly manner. Such sections provide a summary format from which the reader can learn how to communicate findings (an important aspect of OSCEs) – a skill that often helps examiners differentiate between competent and failing candidates. In addition, helpful quotes are included throughout the book in highlighted boxes – the name, job and place of work of each quote’s author provides assurance with regards to the basis of such knowledge. Future editions of this book might look to include links to online video resources that demonstrate some of the OSCE stations; nevertheless, this does not stop current readers from utilizing this book to its maximum potential and then reinforcing this knowledge by viewing existing online material. Consolidating knowledge is very important in ensuring high quality performance in OSCEs, and in real life clinical scenarios – this book certainly provides the platform for this to occur. The Chief Editor of this book has clearly embarked on bringing together the best of knowledge into one resource, thereby allowing students to concentrate on the ‘learning’, rather than ‘finding’ of information. The authors clearly acknowledge that this highly successful book is just one component of the numerous resources that should be utilized by students to ensure appropriate learning for examinations.

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