Are you aware of the changes to the RANZCP clinical examinations?

Hi all,

Hope the examination preparation is going well for those of you preparing to sit the RANZCP clinical examinations in May.

You may not be aware, but the college has met and made changes to the marking proforma for the OCI component of the clinical examinations, due to take effect in time for the May clinicals. Please refer to http://www.ranzcp.org/fellowship/examinations-changes-and-news.html for the correct information.

The most significant change is the omission of the ‘global rating’ score, which used to attract 30% of the marks. This score was always difficult to quantify, and hence we think it is a good move to remove it. However, that doesn’t mean that your presentation skills are any less relevant.

The ability to synthesise and present a sophisticated mental state examination will be formally tested, rather than fall under other domains such as data synthesis. Hence, this component of the presentation will need to be more polished than ever to attract maximum marks.

How can you learn more about these changes and practice them before the May 2010 clinicals?

1. By attending our Present to Pass 1.5 day workshops, held in Melbourne (see our website for dates). Our first course in a few weeks time is full, and the one scheduled for late March has only 2 spots left, but there are still places at our April course. Come along and participate in a session that focuses on presenting succinct and sophisticated mental state examinations, as well as brush up on skills required for all other domains of the clinical examinations. Our ‘examiners’ on the second day will be focusing particularly on how you present your mental state examinations when you have your opportunity to present a case.

2. Come along to our dinner meeting in Brisbane on 25 March, where Dr Curt Gray, RANZCP committee for examinations member will explain the changes in more detail. Once again, all the information can be found on our website, and places are filling fast. Thanks to Avant for subsiding some of the cost of this event.

Let us know what you think of these new changes by replying to this blog. Happy studying!

Gearing up for the clinical exams

It might just be my imagination, but it seems registrars are getting prepared earlier and earlier for the clinical examinations.

We have almost filled 2 courses for Present to Pass® this year, and it’s only the beginning of February! This year we are running three courses before the May clinicals, which is a good thing as they are sure to fill up soon.

And we have had a great early response from the Queenslanders who are reserving their spot at our inaugural Present to Pass® dinner meeting. For those of you who haven’t heard, we are running a special 3 hour event with dinner in Brisbane on Thursday 25 March 2010, starting at 6pm. We thank Dr Curt Gray and Dr Jon-Paul Khoo for confirming their attendance as speakers on the night, where we will address the clinical examinations, and present a ‘live’ OSCE for comment and discussion. More details can be found on our website www.cpdformulations.com.au, and there are still a limited number of places available.

It looks as if we’ll need to announce a meeting in Perth for later in the year, if the popularity for the Brisbane meeting is anything to go by!

As always, good luck with your examination preparation!

Regards,
Helen

Present to Pass goes troppo!

We are so thrilled to announce that we are putting all our efforts into a special one-off event on Thursday 25 March in Brisbane, Queensland.
We have always been passionate about flexible ways to deliver registrar education to as many people as possible, and are aware that it is a big commitment to fly interstate to attend courses. So we are going to complement (not replace) our Present to Pass® courses with a special one-off dinner meeting to be held on Thursday 25 March, 2010, in Brisbane.
We have met quite a few Queensland trainees as they have attended Present to Pass®, viewed us on line during our webcast series and attended SleepSchool© last year at Custom’s House, Brisbane. This is our chance to meet more and offer some practical tips and advice about how to get through the RANZCP clinical exams.
Our chairperson will be Dr Curt Gray, RANZCP college examiner and member of the examinations committee. Dr Gray is a CL psychiatrist from the Gold Coast.
We also aim to offer an interactive component to the evening, and keep it as informal as possible so you can ask questions.
This evening will be valuable for registrars planning to sit the exams in 2010, as well as trainees in their first and second years, because we’ll address the components of the exam, and offer generic tips for interviewing and presenting cases. However, first priority will be given to candidates planning to sit in 2010.
There will be an attendance fee that will cover dinner, as well as educational materials. We hope to reduce this fee by attracting some external sponsorship, and will keep you posted regarding final cost and venue.
So, please spread the word, and register your interest. We aim to cater for about 40 registrars and imagine that places will fill quickly.
And for those of you training in WA, we aim to come and visit in the coming months, as Present to Pass® goes West!
Take care and let us know how you’re going with exam preparation,
Helen

Exam success for RANZCP exemption candidates!

It has been so pleasing to hear from our recent graduates of Present to Pass® who achieved success in the RANZCP clinical exams in November 2009. A number of graduates had attempted to pass the exams on a few occasions, and did let us know that tips they learnt at our workshops helped them with preparation and on the day.

We are so thrilled to hear the good news, and will continue to ask for feedback to ensure that our course remains valuable for registrars.

We are also developing a new program for surgical registrars sitting the FRACS clinical examinations. We know that presentation skills and anxiety management training is relevant to all registrars sitting oral exams, regardless of specialty.
So if you know of any surgical registrars who might like to take part in our courses, please forward this on, and invite them to join our database. That way, we can ensure they are notified when the dates are set.

Happy New Year to All

On behalf of all the team at CPD Formulations we thank you for your support of our programs, and look forward to seeing you in 2010.

Things have moved quickly this year; we have had a number of successful program launches and many thanks for coming along and participating.

And on another note, we were robbed on Christmas Eve, not a lot taken as we do not have cash or drugs on the premises, but a big shake up for us on the eve of the festive season. We hope the perpetrators are caught as they caused a great deal of damage to other offices as well.

Anyway, we plan on putting all this to one side in order to continue creating quality medical education in 2010 and beyond (that’s after a bit of a break!).

As always, very best wishes, and keep in touch,
Helen

Reflections of a Local Hospital Co-ordinator for the RANZCP exams

Have you signed up for access to our resource section on the CPD Website?

If not you may like to click here to request a username and password.

Just added is a document which contains some insights from a local hospital co-ordinator for the RANZCP clinical exams. Here is a snippet...

"Once the RANZCP decides on the location for the clinical examinations, various hospitals are chosen to host the OCI (observed clinical interview) and OSCE (objective structured clinical examination) component of the examinations. The OCI is held over two days in most occasions and up to 8 candidates are examined on each day at each site, if two streams are running concurrently. The OCI begins by 8am and concludes at 5.15pm, hence, a very long day for all involved"...

Log in to our resource centre to keep reading...

A resounding ‘Yes’ for a new approach to independent medical education

It was so pleasing to see the recent feedback from our survey on independent medical education, both as a doctor and independent medical education provider.

Many thanks to all those who replied, and showed us that Doctors are prepared to pay for medical education if they are purchasing access to a quality medical education event. In addition, we were thrilled that some rated our SleepSchool and HIV Matters Summit as the best medical education event for 2009.

Most of the criticism regarding pharmaceutical company sponsorship relates to a perception that the content of the material may be biased, or that niche therapeutic areas that are not treated by medication (such as the psychotherapies) are not explored. While we have had experience with collaborating with pharmaceutical companies, we are now ready to pursue our beliefs that there is room for both approaches.

Recently, out major sponsor for our HIV summit withdrew support, but we are not perturbed and are proceeding with developing a fantastic new program for 2010. This program will address the very important areas of Image and Identity in those with HIV, and what it means to have HIV in the 21st Century. If you would like to be updated about meeting dates and registration, please email us at hivmatters@cpdformulations.com.au. We aim to deliver a valuable education event not to be missed if you have a special interest in managing patients with HIV.

And big thanks go to Servier Laboratories who helped make our vision of webcasting training programs for registrars a reality in 2009. They truly provided unrestricted educational grants and had no involvement with the content of the programs, and were always very professional and obliging to work with.