Station - Instructions for candidate
You are a final-year medical student (pre-intern) on placement in a general practice in Western Australia.
Thao Le, an 80-year-old woman, presents to your clinic with worsening fatigue over six months. She was widowed six months ago and attributes most of her symptoms to grief. The practice nurse has recorded her observations.
| Practice nurse observations | HR 92 regular, BP 128/82 mmHg, RR 16, SpO2 98% on room air, temperature 36.8°C, weight 58 kg, pallor noted |
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Your tasks are to:
- Take a focused history from Thao about the fatigue, weight loss and night sweats, and explore how she has coped since her husband's death.
- Request appropriate investigations to establish the diagnosis.
- State your most likely diagnosis and two to four differential diagnoses with brief justification to the examiner.
- Outline your initial management plan to the examiner, including urgent referral if indicated, and discuss ceilings of care appropriate to her age.
- Summarise your findings and your management plan to Thao in plain language, addressing her concerns about the symptoms.
- Findings will be provided by the examiner on request.
- The examiner will not ask you questions.
This is a 15-minute station, with 2 minutes of reading time.