Entrance Exam

Along with all the the basic science classes I have taken in the last 7 quarters to prepare me for national boards, I have had a sprinkling of technique and diagnosis classes. Usually I have had about 2 to 3 classes a quarter of that flavor. Since those classes are the prerequisite to becoming an intern in the clinic I had to be tested in a practical method to see if I was competent in those areas. So our professors have developed something they call Entrance Exam that I was fortunate to be able to take yesterday morning. This is how it organized.

There were six individual stations: first the Case History station, where we were given the age, gender, and chief complaint of the patient and then had to ask pertinent questions to the patient to narrow down what they might have wrong with them. The next station was the Differential Diagnosis station where we were given a case history with some subjective and objective findings and were asked to give three differential diagnosis that made sense given the history and findings. We then had to give specific reasons why those diagnosis made sense using the findings and history of the patient. The next station was Orthopedic/Neurological Testing station. In this station we were given three random orthopedic tests (we have learned well over 70 unique tests) and had to perform them on a patient and also state what a positive would be as well as what they indicated could be wrong with the patient. We also we given one spinal nerve root to test motor/reflex/sensory function on (there were only about 11 different nerve roots that we have learned to test). The next station was Palpation station. Here we were given a specific spinal vertebral misalignment (we have special ways of labeling misalignments called listings) and were asked to demonstrate and explain the static, motion, and muscle/ligament findings for that specific listing on a patient. The Set Up station was next. This is where we were given two segmental listings and had to set the patient up just like we were about to give an adjustment without giving the force. The last station was Physical Exam, this station we had to preform four individual parts of either the eye, ear, anterior/posterior thorax, heart, or abdominal exam. We were graded not only on performance but also on professionalism, so we had dress up and introduce ourselves as if they were all real patients.

So what happened was they took six of us at a time and we had one minute to get to the door then we were told to enter the room via intercom. We had five minutes to complete the station and we were given a 30 second warning via a ding over the intercom speaker then we were told to leave and were given another minute to get to the next doorway and it repeated for all six stations. After we were done we were sent to a "quarantine" room where we had to wait for all the groups to finish. I was able to go in the second of 4 groups. It was very nerve racking but luckily all the things that I had to do I remembered how to perform and the case history and diagnosis station were not too bad. I feel like I performed well and I did not have to wait in quarantine for that long. It was a good experience and just another step closer to my ultimate goal.

-Mike E