The Last Day...

This is the final day of Final FRCA vivas, and EI hopes
many people have passed the exam. For those of you who
have yet to sit the exam this coming Autumn, all the best
of luck.

The last question we can tell you about, as intelligence
received has run thin in the last 24 hours, was a
pharmacology question which came up about the use of
NSAIDs, including the pathway and enzymes they act on and
the implications of their use and the controversy of COX-2
selective inhibitors and why increased cardiovascular
deaths occurred.

EI is going to take a (quite frankly well deserved) break
for a few days, before starting to home in on further
tips, tricks and techniques for studying, learning,
remembering and most importantly passing the Final
Examination.

Please keep visiting, as there is something new on the
horizon which is going to be developed behind the scenes,
and will initially be released in bits and pieces before
coming together in one fell swoop.

Congratulations to all those who passed, and our
comiserations for those of you that didn't. Stick with EI
and we will try to bring you information to maximise your
chances of success.

A little further Viva intelligence

EI has heard about some more exam questions that have come up in the vivas this week, so here we go:

-Describe the pathophysiology of ARDS
-Describe your management of a patient with ARDS
-How do you optimise PEEP?
-How do you optimise PEEP if you don't have fancy ventilators(!)?

-Draw a saggital section of the eye.
-Describe the anatomy.
-Mark the insertion of the conjunctiva into the sclera.
-Why is the anatomy of the eye important to anaesthetists?

A physics/measurement question on CPX and examining a CPX test result came up.

Future Sounds...
Keep an eye on this blog for some well researched answers to the questions that have come up in this last Final FRCA Exam.
Also, as the next sitting approaches, EI will bring together more resources, and simplified explanations of topics that might come up. Hopefully we can help others achieve the same success we have, by sharing some of our revision tips and tricks, and some of the cunning ploys we adopted.
We welcome any suggestions and questions, please feel free to comment or contact EI on the email link in the right-hand column.

If you have a topic you struggle with, ask us, and we will try to help.

If you are still waiting to take your viva tomorrow: GOOD LUCK!

Question some more?

Firstly, E.I. hears that the questions today included THAT
kyphoscoliotic lady for cholecystectomy, a head injured
child with fractured tib and fib, a question about
categorisation of Emergency LSCS, and a question about
heart blocks. More detailed information than that has not
really yet come this way.

Secondly, for those doing the Final FRCA in the
future....the grapevine has told us that The Clinical
Anaesthesia Viva book is going to reach us in a second
incarnation sometime soon, so keep your eyes peeled for
that one....

If you have any information you want to share, please pass
it on to examintelligence"AT"googlemail.com .

Good luck to anyone still awaiting their viva!

Final Vivas of the Past

Unfortunately, my ISP has managed to cut me off from my web-server, meaning I can't upload anything at the moment. However, some readers have expressed interest in some Past Viva papers I discovered in my filing cabinet at home, as mentioned in a previous post. If you are interested in seeing them, please email me. Eventually I will be able to upload them, but I don't hold high hopes of that happening before the middle of next week!