Examination Stations

Examinations

Examinations

• Respiratory

• Cardiovascular

• Abdominal

• Cranial nerve, upper limb or lower limb

Skills Examined

• Performance of examination

• Signs elicited

• Intepretation of signs

• Understanding of diagnosis

Given the relatively limited number of exams available, these should well rehearsed and executed. 

Timings

Total: 10 minutes

• • Examination: 6 minutes

  • Examiner discussion- presentation and questions: 4 minutes

Reasonable to aim to complete the examination in 5 minutes during practice to allow for 1 minute of processing time or 4 minutes on a co-operative volunteer without signs. 

Sources of delay

• Variable actors/ patients

• Adequate exposure

• Unclear signs

Presentation

Classical Structure

1. Signs

2. Primary differential with other differentials

3. Signs of complications or unwell

4. Complete examination- history, examination, observations

5. Investigations

6. Management

If confident can open with primary differential. Personally I think it is quite brave to state 'my diagnosis is' because most conditions are not diagnosed from clinical examination. For example, aortic stenosis is really diagnosed on ECHO, not examination. If confident, it can be useful to front load your presentation, but is higher risk.

It is very easy to forget some of the milder signs during presentation, hence finishing the examination with some time left is helpful to prepare for the presentation. 

A good presentation can mask areas of low clinical confidence by explaining the topic on your terms and using up the examiner questions time. 

Examiner Questions

The most unpredictable part of the station. 

The examiner will want to: 

• Be clear about the signs you identified (and perhaps prompt you if you failed to mention ones you found)

• Understand your logic between signs and diagnosis

• Examine your understanding of the condition: pathophysiology, investigations, management

Top tips

• If you don't know, don't guess and keep your answers short- far better than saying something totally wrong

• This part will be over quickly- try and hit the key points and avoid too much depth of detail

Written in 2026.