Thursday, May 04, 2006

School's Out

Today was supposed to be the first day of our two-day first year OSCE final exams. Basically, we get tested in communications by interviewing a standardized patient, then we have to follow that up with a set of physical exam maneuvers. Tomorrow would have been similar, with either suturing or IVs added at the end.

I was scheduled for an 8:20 a.m. start time. Physical exam is by far my weakest subject this year, so I was pretty nervous about things. I love precordial and resp exams, but MSK leaves me cold. Anyways, I spent the last couple of days freaking out about it, and finally got everything necessary into my brain last night. Slept terribly, dreaming about the exam, and that it somehow involved bicycling, followed by an essay. The essay I wrote was great, but I had trouble coming up with a good ending for it...

Got up at 6, made it to school on time. They signed us in for the exam, told us to wait a few minutes, then told us that there would be a slight delay. I was crazy thirsty, so I eventually went to go get a drink of water. On my way out, I overheard the profs talking in the hallway, and heard the words "cancellation" and "inflame the situation". Not at all what I was expecting to hear.

About an hour later, the whole thing was cancelled, due to the standardized patients being on strike. Tomorrow is still up in the air, but my bet is that it'll be cancelled as well. The result? A big super-stressful exam has just become a four-day weekend.

9 comments:

Bil The Man said...

Holy shit. Sounds like the state of Canadian medicine is not looking so good. Major crisis. Well, enjoy your weekend!

Marysienka said...

SP's on strike? lol that's the best one I've ever heard!
Have a um um nice weekend :-/

Anna said...

how utterly fabulous! i was praying for a miracle like this before my osce - you must have been a very good boy this year!

do you suture standardised patients too? maybe thats why they went on strike...

Tall Medstudent said...

We suture some model arms. :) DRE a few weeks ago was a SP, though. That is no easy job.

Cheeler said...

Ha! Hilarious and unfortunate. Good luck when they reschedule and keep up the good work!

Anna said...

volunteers for DRE? some people are so wierd...

Marysienka said...

OMG, SP for DRE?! ugh... some ppl have nothing to do...

Tall Medstudent said...

Hey, it's an important job, and I'm thankful that some people are brave enough to make themselves available for our education. :) Like they say, it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. :)

Marysienka said...

Come on!