How to organise a paediatric MRCP (UK) part II training course.

Abstract

Articles and correspondence about the organisation of the paediatric MRCP (UK) part II examination1 2 have appeared in Archives of Disease in Childhood , and the Royal College of Physicians has published minimum standards for clinical courses.3 However, little has been written about how a training course for this examination should be organised, and, having organised study weekends, we have gained some experience and feel it may be of value to share it. A course and the examination itself are obviously similar in structure, content, and the type of patients invited to be examined. However, the organisers should consider various issues in advance of the course, particularly how best to present the children and their problems to the candidates. Thus, course design should be the result of careful planning based on sound educational principles.4 There are conflicts between providing teaching or practice sessions, personal exposure or observational experience, and continuous feedback or realistic intimidation. Each of these needs to be considered in the context of the appropriate section of the examination. Both before and after the course, candidates for the examination ask for maximum exposure to clinical material, as if they wish to be confronted with a series of signs and symptoms rather than a patient; they also seem to prefer to observe the treatment of the patient. However, personal experience and feedback after the examination indicate that although the number of cases seen is immaterial, how these cases are approached is not. Many candidates fail the short cases because they are unprepared for the intensity and speed of the examination, not because they have little experience of the cases presented to them. One of our candidates stated: “My first real experience of short cases was in the exam. I’d been to so called short case teaching …