Short Case Records
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In this section and in Section I in Volume 3, we present aides-mémoire (clinical descriptions for presentation to the examiner) for over 226 short cases. We have called these aides-mémoire records. They are divided into the eight station subsections of the three clinical stations of PACES. The order in each subsection has been determined by the frequency with which, according to our surveys, these short cases have appeared in the PACES examination for that station. Thus, short case no. 1 in a particular station subsection occurred most commonly, followed by short case no. 2 and so on. The percentages given represent our best estimate of your chance of meeting a particular short case in that station subsection in any one attempt at the MRCP PACES examination.
It cannot be overstressed that the first short cases we have dealt with in each station subsection occurred very commonly and the last very rarely, with all grades in between. The implications for your priorities are obvious. There are those who are tempted to ignore the less common cases and, indeed a good case can be made for this approach, but it is a risky business (see Footnote, Station 3, CNS, Case 44).
In this section, the style of each record imagines you to be in the examination situation with the patient displaying the typical features of a particular condition; you are ‘churning out’ these to the examiner along with the answers to various anticipated questions. Thus, you play the record of the condition to the examiner. Of course, the cases in the actual examination will only have some of the features (the record tends to describe the ‘full house’ case) and it is hoped that by becoming familiar with the whole record, you will be well equipped:
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