Station - Instructions for candidate
You are a final-year medical student on placement in a general practice in Bunbury.
Rosanna Tedesco is a 58-year-old woman attending a Bunbury general practice with an 18-month history of food and drinks sticking behind the lower sternum. She has been referred for assessment of this swallowing problem.
Your tasks are to:
- Take a focused history of the presenting problem, including relevant past history, medications, allergies and social history.
- Perform a focused examination of the abdomen and epigastrium, including a general nutritional survey. Describe to the examiner what you would look for or do and the relevant findings will be provided to you.
- Request appropriate investigations. Results will be provided by the examiner if appropriately indicated.
- State the most likely diagnosis and two to four differentials, with brief justification, to the examiner.
- Outline your initial management plan, including treatment, referral and safety-netting, to the examiner.
- Summarise your findings, clinical impression and plan to the examiner.
- You do NOT need to perform an examination outside the abdomen, epigastrium and general nutritional survey.
- Please verbalise your examination to the examiner; findings will be provided when you request each relevant step.
- You do not need to prescribe or write in the notes.
- The examiner will not ask you additional questions.
This is a 15-minute station, with 2 minutes of reading time.