Dear FRCEM OSCE Candidate
Attached is the research article that will be discussed during the critical appraisal station in
the forthcoming FRCEM Final OSCE. You should read the article in advance of the
examination.
The OSCE station will take the form of a guided conversation about the paper that will focus
on your ability to critically appraise the article. You will not be asked to summarise the paper
and you do not need to memorise it. In the OSCE circuit, there will be a reading station
immediately before the critical appraisal station, where the paper will be available to you to
refamiliarize yourself with it. Both stations are of the standard 8 minute duration, with a 1
minute lead in time to read the candidate instruction.
During the station, the conversation will cover aspects of internal validity (does the research
tell us what the authors say it tells us and has the research been conducted properly?) and
external validity (does the research tell us what we need to know as clinicians and whether
and how it could change practice?). There will be no expectation to carry out calculations in
the station.
Please see below research article.
