Psychiatry

Abstract

In most of the objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE), one can expect to have at least two psychiatric stations. Many candidates considered these to be the most challenging ones. Usually these are history taking and discussing a management plan with the patient or the examiner. Sometimes in these stations, you may be asked to counsel the patient regarding the expected diagnosis. Psychiatric stations are also challenging in a way that a large number of questions need to be asked in a limited time frame. The purpose of psychiatric history is to identify patient physical and psychosocial problems and to rule out the common differential diagnosis. At the end, you wrap up with a treatment plan. It is equally important to extract vital information about the patient and patient’s family, including mental illnesses, smoking/drugs/alcohol use, sexual activity, child/spouse abuse, and living circumstances.

This chapter will outline common psychiatry topics important for OSCE. An overview of the pattern of history taking required for psychiatry stations is given in the start of the chapter, followed by important topics. It is extremely important to read the key points in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria for these topics so you can familiarize the key aspects of each scenario. Another important part of the psychiatric stations is to memorize common medications used in different psychiatric disorders, which are often asked in post-encounter questions. Patients may ask about the side effects and duration of treatment. Depression and panic attacks are the most commonly asked scenarios in most of the OSCE.