SURGICAL FINALS Passing the Clinical - PasTest

G E N E R A L P O I N T Sdecides the finishing point, not you. When the end is signalled, smileand thank the examiners, regardless of your feelings. Leave quietly at anormal pace. Try not to trip, knock over the chair or slam the door!O R G A N I S A T I O N O FI N F O R M A T I O NAlways show the examiners that you can classify information. Thefollowing ‘time-honoured’ mnemonics will help you organise yourinformation, but if you make up your own they will be more memorable.A diseaseYou may be asked to talk about a particular disease. Use a pathologysieve to structure your answer. One aide-mémoire is ‘Dressed In aSurgeon’s Gown A Physician Might Make Progress’: Definition, Incidence,Sex, Geography, Aetiology, Pathogenesis, Macroscopic pathology,Microscopic pathology, Prognosis. This is modified to form a clinicalsieve ‘… a physician Should Succeed In Treatment’: Symptoms, Signs,Investigations, Treatment.AetiologyExaminers often ask the causes of a condition. Remember to mentioncommon causes before rarer ones. If you have not memorised a listfor that condition, again refer to a sieve. You may find the followingmnemonic useful: CIMETIDINE – Congenital, Infective, Inflammatory,Metabolic, Endocrine, Traumatic, Iatrogenic, Degenerative, Idiopathic,Neoplastic, Everything else!An easy surgical specific mnemonic is TIMEC: T: tumour/trauma;I: infection, inflammation,ischaemia; M: mechanical, metabolic; E:endocrine; C: congenital17