Each chair’s report contains a number of topics which examiners felt were not answered well by many candidates. This is to guide future candidates to curriculum areas which may require study.
In this exam ECG analysis was felt to be poor, with a number of candidates not using a systematic approach (so missing areas such as rhythm rate axis) or missing abnormal findings. Radiology, in particular chest radiograph analysis was also felt to be weak for a number of candidates. These topics are noted to be done poorly by a number of candidates in each of the recent exams.
Many candidates had difficulty with the questions relating to the Stage 2 curriculum such as pulmonary hypertension, venous oximetry, brain stem death testing and with also with the applied basic sciences parts of questions such as sodium homeostasis and pharmacology of common ICU drugs.
Many candidates found the questions which did not relate to a specific clinical presentation challenging e.g. never events and environmental hazards in the ICU.
Examiners also noted that some candidates would likely score more marks if their answers had been more precise, e.g. saying ‘hospital acquired pneumonia’ instead of ‘infection’ when a diagnosis is requested.
