Countdown to Step 2CS: 7 days left

Day 1 of step 2cs studying was fine. I took it a little easy to ease myself back into the groove of going hard, and to let my sister get used to the format. By easy I mean I did only four to five cases back to back. Tomorrow, I will do 6-7 cases back to back. I will now detail how I organized my day and what i have learned.

In the morning, whilst in my car  for an hour and a half awaiting the end of alternate side parking,  I reviewed/memorized the blue sheet structure and mnemonics outlined in laura's video. (check out my earlier post) When i got home i looked over some mini cases mainly to review differential diagnoses as well as the possible lab tests to run. I also read through the special scenario section, which details how to handle difficult patients, questions, ethics etc. Then i relaxed.

At 2 pm, I practiced 4 cases, with my sister being the standardized patient. Then we took a break till 8pm at which time we did the remaining 5 cases. I did not write up any patient notes today. The longest time I took to complete a patient encounter including the physical exam was about 22 minutes, with my best time being 18min (technically it was 12 minutes but that was for a short pediatric case so i'm not counting that.)

I noticed that I occasionally missed a few things: asking permission to start physical examination; counseling about smoking or sex (this was at the end so maybe i was tired); and for pediatric cases hearing, vision, vaccination, and last check up. I will make a list of the things that i keep forgetting to do and just review it everyday, especially on the morning of the exam. To make sure I dont neglect to counsel patients with bad habits i will place a big star beside the desired section (smoking, drugs etc) the moment i write down the information.