Clinical examinations for doctors, medical student exams, finals, OSCEs and MRCP PACES

Medical examinations and exam questions for medical students, finals, OSCEs, PACES and USMLE

Clinical Exams

• Cardiovascular Examination
  • Cardiovascular examination – summary (with downloadable notes)
  • Cardiovascular exam – detailed
    • OSCE and PACES questions about the cardiovascular examination (30 extended questions)
• Respiratory Examination
  • Respiratory Examination – summary (with downloadable notes and videos)
  • Respiratory exam – detailed
    • OSCE and PACES questions about the respiratory examination
• Abdominal Examination
  • Abdominal Examination – summary
  • Abdominal Examination – detailed
    • OSCE and PACES questions about the abdominal examination
• Neurological Examinations
  • Upper and Lower Limb (Peripheral) Neurological Examination
    • Questions about the peripheral neurological examination 
  • Cranial Nerve Examination
    • Questions about the cranial nerve examination – olfactory nerve (I)
    • Questions about the cranial nerve examination – optic nerve (II)
    • Questions about the cranial nerve examination – oculomotor (III), trochlear (IV) & abducens (VI)
    • Questions about the cranial nerve examination – trigeminal nerve (V)
    • Questions about the cranial nerve examination – facial nerve (VII)
    • Questions about the cranial nerve examination – vestibulocochlear nerve (VIII)
    • Questions about the cranial nerve examination – glossopharyngeal (IX), vagus (X) and hypoglossal nerves (XII)
• ENT examinations
  • Ear examination
    • Rinne and Weber’s tests (tuning fork)
  • Nose examination
• Vascular Examinations
  • Upper and lower limb arterial examination
    • OSCE and PACES questions about upper and lower limb arterial examination
  • Lower limb venous system examination
    • OSCE and PACES questions about lower limb venous system examination
• Thyroid Examination
  • Thyroid Status Examination
    • OSCE and PACES questions about the thyroid examination
• Neck Examination
  • Neck Examination
    • OSCE and PACES questions about the neck examination

• Breast Examination
  • Breast examination
• Acromegaly Examination
  • Acromegaly Examination
    • OSCE and PACES questions about the acromegaly examination
• Nutritional examination
  • Examination of nutritional status
• Fluid status examination
  • Examination of fluid status

Questions about clinical examinations

• Questions about the cardiovascular exam
  • What are the causes of clubbing?
  • What are the causes of atrial fibrillation?
  • What are the factors to distinguish the jugular venous from the carotid arterial pulse?
  • What are the abnormalities of the waveform of the jugular venous pulsation?
  • What are the different murmurs and clinical findings in the common valvular lesions?
  • What are the abnormalities of the heart sounds (relevance of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th heart sounds)?
  • What are the  grades of murmur intensity (Levine scale)?
  • What is the differential diagnosis of differently timed murmurs?

• Questions about the respiratory exam
  • What are the categories of lung disease?
  • What are the causes of tachypnoea and bradypnoea?
  • What are possible nail findings in lung disease?
  • What are the causes of tracheal deviation?
  • What are the types of percussion note?
  • What is the significance of different sputum types?
  • What is the significance of different cough types?
  • What are the types of abnormal breath sounds?

• Questions about the gastrointestinal exam
  • Questions about hepatomegaly
  • Questions about splenomegaly
  • Questions about hepatosplenomegaly
  • Questions about compensated chronic liver disease
  • Questions about jaundice
  • What are the GI causes of clubbing?
  • What are the different types of stoma? (ileostomy vs colonostomy)
  • What are the causes of general abdominal distention?
  • How to describe a mass or lump in a medical exam?

 Evidence

• How reliable is the clinical assessment of finger clubbing?

Examiners’ checklists

• Cardiovascular Examination Checklist
• Cranial Nerve Examination Checklist
• Lower Limb Neuro Examination Checklist
• Respiratory Examination Checklist
• Upper Limb Neuro Examination Checklist