COMLEX PE

Just finished with PE, drove into Philly the day before and back right after the test. Day started early around 7:30am and ended around 3pm. Test really starts at 8am but they wanted us there 30min before just for paperwork, ID pic and orientation. The real test didn't start until 9am. All that waiting time. ::sigh:: it's NBOME. Definitely take the AM session if you are used to the EST but think about the PM session if from the PST. I have been in NJ for the past year so it was no big deal but another guy from my class has been in AZ for OMS III was complaining about being a bit jet lagged. Take your pick.

The whole day consist of seeing 12 patients and writing each of the SOAP notes. The schedule is break into groups of 4 and then lunch/break. They provide decent lunch and have vegetarian option as well. So I was surprised, totally did not expect that. I was good in the beginning in the sense that I was fairly thorough for every case. But about halfway through, I was starting to get tired so my time with the patient were shorter and shorter. I think by the end of the day, I was probably with the patient somewhere between 5-8mins, just enough to get the information to write the notes and diagnosis.

Each of the patient encounters includes history, physical, answering the patient questions and giving tentative diagnosis and what to expect. There are a couple that requires OMM. So it wasn't what I expected where I have to do OMM for every patient. The cases are very common and can be easily picked up.

The most ridiculously part of the day is that the whole day is run by a voice over the intercom. "Begin encounter ..." "You have 2 minutes remaining..." Also you can get up if you finished the notes early. I actually like the setup. You have 23 min for both the patient encounter and the notes but a max of 14 min with patient. Our school's standardized patients and OMS testing closely mock the test. So I felt fairly prepared. The only thing I can say is that it is long and definitely need stamina.