Chapter 9 – Procedure CPSA Stations



Introduction

What follows is a step-by-step guide to clinical procedures based on the guidelines used at St Emlyn’s Hospitals. It is really important to note the guidelines change with time, and from place to place, so you should make yourself aware of the most current guidelines in use for where you are working.
One of the best ways to learn how to do a procedures is to:
‣ Watch a demonstration real time to help you understand what you are aiming for.
‣ Get instructions on how to do the procedure from an expert
‣ Go through it in your own head to make sure you understand and ask questions if you don’t
‣ Have a go at doing it under instruction from this iBook, with specific feedback on technique from an expert.
‣ Then practice without using this guide to see how much information you retain (retrieval practice) and importantly get feedback on your performance from someone who knows what they are doing or from a fellow learner using site a guide

General Approach in the Exam

In these stations you may be asked to perform or explain the skill. Like all other stations, no matter what is being assessed ensure you have clear opening and closing statements/summaries prepared.

Adopting a generic approach will help maximise your marks even if you are a little rusty on the knowledge side of things. A large proportion of the marks are given to the generic approach of the skills  rather than the minutiae.

The main thing candidates often run into trouble with is their timing. With stations aimed primarily at demonstrating skills, easy marks are often lost if candidates fail/run out of time to express their post procedure plan.

General approach

Arterial Blood Gas (ABG)

Core procedures/skills

Skills listed in GMC Practical Skills and Procedures may be assessed. All of the infographics have been produced by Nick Smith and are also available as a full ebook.

The majority of suggested resources are from: St Mungo’s, Oxford Medical Education and the Geeky medics website. Youtube is also a really useful resource for visual learners.

Orthopaedics