Clinical stations
There are two types of stations in the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part II: five-minute couplet stations and ten-minute stations.
Couplet stations
The five-minute couplet stations involve a five-minute clinical encounter and a five-minute post-encounter probe.
Five-minute clinical encounter: The candidate may be instructed to obtain a focused relevant history or conduct a focused physical examination while being observed by a physician examiner who assesses the candidate's performance using standardized scoring instruments.
Five-minute post-encounter probe: Each clinical encounter station is followed by a five-minute written station called the post-encounter probe where the candidate will, for example, perform some of the following tasks:
- Record findings from the clinical encounter just completed.
- Provide a differential diagnosis.
- Interpret x-rays, computed tomography images, laboratory results, etc.
- Detail an initial investigation or management plan.
You can take a look at a history-taking example of a couplet station and an example of a physical examination couplet station. Both of these examples include the candidate’s instructions, the examiner’s checklist, and the post-encounter probe questions (with the correct answers).
Ten-minute stations
The ten-minute stations assess the candidate's ability to obtain a history and/or conduct a physical examination, to demonstrate interviewing and communication skills and/or to apply management skills.
These stations are structured for the candidate to interact with the Standardized Patient for ten minutes. In some cases, the clinical encounter ends at nine minutes and is followed by a one-minute oral examination. The Physician Examiner will ask one to three pre-specified questions related to the patient problem. For all stations, the Physician Examiners observe the encounter and use standardized scoring instrument(s) to assess each candidate's performance.
Click here for an example of a ten-minute history-taking station. The example includes the candidate’s instructions and the Examiner’s checklist.
