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Three Months To Go

3 months to go - How do I Prepare for the Clinicals?

Thursday, 19 February 2009

Three months before the exam is the ideal time to push yourself into another gear. This is because you are in the period of optimal arousal (remember the Yerkson-Dodson’s Law/Curve?!) where learning will be most effective.

So how should one prepare in this period?

1. Approach the exam with complete conviction. ‘Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude’. (Thomas Jefferson). Give it your best shot. You don’t want to pay the college for stress, again! Passing the exam is priceless!

2. Preparation for the OCI

• Aim for 8- 12 cases over 12 weeks (approx 1 a week) and make sure you present them under exam conditions. Aim to vary the type of cases e.g. acute case, chronic case, eating disorder case, dual diagnosis etc .

• The most important part in the OCI is the interviewing technique and the formulation (data synthesis). This alone accounts for 60 % of the OCI marking scheme

• The aim is to be able to formulate any case that is thrown at you in 10 minutes thinking time. Reserve the other 10 minutes for management. This requires a structure (template) and knowledge of biological, psychological, social and cultural models for each psychiatric condition. This should then be followed by a succinct time specific narrative that requires presentation skills underpinned by a presentation template. So a forensic case of stabbing, with partial amnesia and neurological deficits (true exam case) should be no problem.

• Present the management in a structured manner and have a sound knowledge base about medications, psychological treatments and social treatments for each psychiatric condition. There is an art in presenting management so that you prime the examiner to ask you the questions that you want and believe me it works! Be aware of issues for Indigenous and migrant populations. Answer questions succinctly. This requires you to have a short description for each treatment that you are asked about, especially for psychological treatments e.g. CBT, IPT. A competent knowledge base will equip you to answer any questions the examiner asks you along with evidence based treatments.

• Be diligent and prepare a basic formulation model and management plan for every case you see in your normal practice. It takes 10-20 minutes after the interview and then read around the condition.

• Take the OCI seriously. Only 55% of the registrars and 30% of the exemption candidates on average pass this component. A fail mark in the OCI makes it very difficult to pass the OCI and can only be compensated by a very high score in the OSCE. A mark below 24 in the OCI makes it near impossible

3. Preparation for the OSCE:

• The OSCE is peer referenced and therefore has a high pass mark of around 80% for registrars and 60% for the exemption candidates. It is very unlikely you will be lower than 2 standard deviations from your peers in all stations.

• Make sure you have a broad knowledge of various themes. Prepare templates for consultancy type questions ( implementing smoke free policy, setting up an indigenous service, giving a talk, dealing with media etc)

• Go through the college questions. They are more complex than are usually available elsewhere. Practice them with colleagues, your partner or even on your own (as I did for the FRANZCP) in the shower, train, car ……….hear the sound of your own voice!

Doing all of the above will most definitely increase your chances of passing the exam.

However , if you want extra help in incorporating the described techniques, then consider the ‘Cruise Through the Fellowship’ Exam Prep Course. We’ve done all the hard work for you!

I have attended several courses in my career. In the U.K there are 8 courses for one exam. Some are good, some not so good. A good course provides techniques to integrate the knowledge, shows you exactly how to do it rather than provide a snapshot of what the exam looks like, instills confidence, provides an opportunity to learn and interact with peers, provides insights from the examiner’s and examinee’s perspective, provides practice, revision material and strategies on managing difficult situations and cases in the exam. A good course does this in a pleasant setting. In Australia and New Zealand there is a significant dearth of such courses. The ‘Cruise Through the Fellowship’ course is designed exactly with all those attributes and more!

The mentoring approach begins with a comprehensive Power Point package 2 months prior to the exam to tap into the optimal learning phase. 6 weeks before the exam course booklets are posted out to participants for further revision. The material contains techniques for presentation, interviewing techniques, formulation models, and management templates for all psychiatric disorders .For the OSCE we provide material (templates and content) on themes and consultancy vivas.All of this is consolidated on the 2 days of the course through practice. I teach interviewing techniques, formulation techniques, presentation skills and management that enables you to present any case competently. Sample exam cases are practiced and presented showing you exactly how to present and what to present. The cases span various specialties including complex cases.On Day 2 (OSCE), a minimum of 10 stations are practiced providing you the opportunity to learn from peers, and obtain feedback from examiners and previous examinees. Consultancy Vivas are included (for exemption candidates the focus on Consultancy Vivas is greater) .The mentoring does not end there. Participants are supported through email and telephone contact for the entire two months for any subject related to the exam.

This is what some of our previous participants had to say –

‘This course offers a smorgasbord of golden nuggets vital for those intent on passing the exam. Dr Rege’s enthusiastic delivery seeps into the pores; leaving one equipped and ready to face the exam.’ (Dr Daniel Riordan)

‘The material produced by Dr Sanil Rege really helped me to pass the exam. I have to say that the special topics that he has done in this course like approach to eating disorders, forensic cases, and organic cases are extremely useful. One, who is serious about passing this exam and feeling pressured about time, would find it a great help. For example I got an eating disorder case and during my preparation I couldn’t arrange a practice OCI in this sub-specialty. One of the best things that helped me to approach this case and pass was undoubtedly the course material’ (Dr Manoj Naraynan)

The exam is achievable. One needs conviction and guidance for preparation.

Course details:

ctfcourse@ymail.com

Tel: 0420442934

The upcoming course is scheduled on 18th and 19th of April for Registrars and 16th and 17th of May for Exemption Candidates. Contact us for current availability and reservations for courses in September and October.

Good luck for the Exam!!

Dr Sanil RegeFounder and main facilitatorConsultant PsychiatristMRCPsych, FRANZCP

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