Step 2 CS

And another day. Exam day. Another exam day. For both the proctors (invigilators) and myself - and many of the other
candidates: they all seemed to be foreign. One guy said he'd done 8 different exams since qualifying - requalifications in
various countries. For myself, there will be more to come; and I hope they're not so fake as this one...

USMLE Step 2 CS (Clinical Skills) - "Standardised Patients," abbreviated history and physical, then a short "Patient Note"
either typed or handwritten: I chose the latter although maybe would have done better typing, for there was not much space
(well, for either, but type is generally smaller) and it might have been legible. But I wouldn't have been able to draw all
my beautiful pictures of abdomens:

  
      
     /      \
    /        \
   |          |
   |     o    |
   |          |
    \        /
     \      /

with appropriate cross-hatching for areas of dullness. Amazingly, many of the questions did seem to be very similar to the
ones described in the First Aid book - a standard amongst the examinees. And, furthermore, it was probably the paediatric
ones that threw me the most: a child with "poor weight gain" who had normal eating habits, plotted well - and always at the
same level - who had no other problems. It's hard to make something up when it's not there, I didn't know what to write
about. The other was similar: nocturnal enuresis. I had read that last night - but what can you say? I actually found that
mother harder to understand than I'm sure most of my fellow examinees were. Another surprise was all the GI problems that I
encountered: I like that, think I can deal with it. I heard of others who got pysch patients: glad that wasn't me. And one
guy was confused at the beginning about tuning forks; another guy, an ENT surgeon from overseas told him how it was done -
and was then thanked later for his advice. Me? I never used them (Dix-Hallpike, who's that?!) .

Anyway, next stop, New York. Now, the holiday begins!