MRCEM Part C

Part C

General Overview

Pre-August 2016 

MRCEM Part C (OSCEs) - This exam is made up of a series of OSCE stations.  Usually between 15-20.  They are designed to assess your knowledge, psychomotor ability, interpersonal skills (including communication and conflict resolution), professional behavior and clinical decision-making skills.  You rotate around the stations spending about 8-10 minutes one each.

(Post august 2016) 

Situational Judgement Paper (SJP) - replaces MRCEM Part C - consisting of 120 single best answer questions(SBAQ) in 2 hours.

Preparation Time: 

2-3 months, such that you practice it on your patients daily

Preparation Material:

East of England: Emergency Medicine Course Part B and Part C (4.5/5)

http://emcourses-india.org/

A team of UK senior consultants conducts courses in India about 3 months before the exam, which prepare you for real exam situations and scenarios. It is excellently organized course for 5 days. On the downside, it can be quite expensive, added are the cost of travel and stay in the city they are organizing it, however, as they say, cheap things aren't necessarily best, but best things can't come cheap. 

Highly recommended 

Mcem Part C Once Station: (4.5/5)

A very well written, and precisely what's more than required for Part C preparation. Look out for the new edition

Bromley Courses

http://www.bromleyemergency.com/

Quite popular among Mrcem enthusiasts, they offer many courses from Ultrasound in ED to whole Part A-C preparation material, I have not taken it myself, so can't recommend it personally, Do check out their Part C OSCE videos available online/youtube.

Tips:

Well if I had 2 words to say about Part C exam, it certainly would be Communication Skills

1. Train well in advance your vocational skill, learn to speak clearly, loud enough so that you are audible clearly to the examiner behind you and the patient in front of you, and always warmly while respecting their privacy.

2. All the stations start with knocking, requesting to enter, washing hands(acting), and cordially greeting the patient, making sure you have always considered the patient's privacy (by asking a chaperone) and getting the name of the patient with their specific complaints. Practice it each time as a ritual, while practicing it on the daily basis. 

3. There are usually 1-2 teaching stations, so learn how to teach, especially by asking the 5Ws to the actor. Courses you taught as an instructor (BLS/ACLS, PALS, ATLS) come in handy here.

4, I can't emphasize how much important the courses of BLS/ACLS, ATLS, PALS are. Make sure you have completed it months before you plan to give the exam, such that you have through knowledge of various protocols we follow while resuscitating a patient.

5. Clinical duties are must as mentioned before, more the number of patients you see, more the experience in practicing OSCE.

6. OSCE has to be practiced with a study group, as one can rectify your mistakes, and throw in some curve balls, in order to give you robust practice and to control the situation in case if your case is going nowhere, which happens quite often in a real exam.

7. Time yourself, you should be able to finish the whole scenario by 6 mins 30 secs. By practising multiple times, you will get a sense of time management.

Reminding you, time and time again, that the path to MRCEM is trodden and may seem quite an uphill task, however, the only way you will pass the exam is not through an IQ of 110 or above, but through mere perseverance and sheer aching your bums sitting on the chair for long hours.

Take-home Points for ADHD's:

2-3 months preparation time, such that you practice it on your patients daily
East of England: Emergency Medicine Course Part B and Part C
Mcem Part C Once Station
Communication Skills
Courses of BLS/ACLS, ATLS, PALS 
Clinical duties

Study group
Practise Practise Practise

I hope you at least have an orientation on what it is like to prepare for the exam. There might be many questions you might like to ask, please feel free to ask in the comments section below.

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