The Practical Assessment of Clinical Examination Skills (PACES) consists of five 20-minute stations that make up a carousel. The examination lasts for a total of 125 minutes, which includes a 5-minute break between each of the stations.
Stations 1 (respiratory/abdominal) and 3 (neurology/cardiovascular) are clinical scenarios lasting 10 minutes each. A maximum of 6 minutes is allowed for examination, followed by 4 minutes for discussion. Candidates will be given written instructions prior to examining the patient.
Stations 2 (history-taking skills) and 4 (communication skills and ethics) last 20 minutes each. In these stations, 14 minutes will be allowed for history taking or communicating with the patient. One minute for reflection is provided to consolidate your thoughts prior to a 5-minute discussion with the examiners.
Station 5 (integrated clinical assessment) involves two brief clinical scenarios of 10 minutes each. Eight minutes are allocated for focused history taking, examination and responding to the patient’ s concerns. The remaining 2 minutes are for discussing examination findings, diagnosis and patient’ s concerns with the examiners. Candidates can be assessed on a wide range of clinical problems.
There will be two examiners present at each station. Candidates will be assessed in seven key areas. They are not all assessed at every station. The key areas include
1.Physical examination
2.Identifying physical signs
3.Clinical communication
4.Differential diagnosis
5.Clinical judgement
6.Managing patient concerns
7.Managing patient welfare
Examiners will mark candidates as satisfactory, borderline or unsatisfactory in each area. It is necessary to reach a minimum standard in each of these areas, as well as meet the overall pass mark.
REFERENCE
Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom. (n.d.) PACES examination format. Available from https://www.mrcpuk.org/mrcpuk-examinations/paces/paces-examination-format. Accessed 25 July 2016.