VeterinarySmall animal medical management
You get the written record of a dog or cat hospitalized with a common condition. In 35 minutes you write the assessment, the treatment orders for the next 12 hours and a prescription; then, in 10 minutes, you hand the case over out loud to the examiner, who plays the veterinary technician on shift. It is station 2 (SAM02) of the Small Animal Medicine section of the ECFVG Clinical Proficiency Examination.
Free to startScenarios
- A hospitalized dog with a common clinical condition: signalment, history, first physical exam findings and first test results on paper.
- A hospitalized cat with a common clinical condition: signalment, history, first physical exam findings and first test results on paper.
The steps
- Read the written case: signalment, history, first physical exam findings and the tests already done.
- Ask for the standard lab data you need; the examiner gives them in writing with normal values.
- On the Medical Assessment Form, write a short summary assessment and the problem list.
- Write the top 3 differential diagnoses.
- Write a tentative diagnosis and a tentative prognosis.
- On the Treatment Order Form, order the extra diagnostic tests needed in the next 12 hours.
- Write the therapeutic plan for the next 12 hours with every drug dose and fluid rate, giving the timing, the dose and the route so the technician can follow it.
- Write which physiological parameters the technician monitors and how often.
- Write what the technician does if a parameter leaves the acceptable range or the animal shows the abnormal signs you list.
- Write one legal prescription for a drug suited to the patient on the Prescription Form, using the formulary provided.
- Keep the record legible, coherent, logical and systematic: it is a legal document for a real patient.
- Finish the written part within 35 minutes, or tell the examiner when you are ready earlier.
- Hand the case over out loud to the examiner, acting as the technician: the patient summary and every order.
- Answer the technician's questions about the record and the orders clearly and briefly.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Write as if the patient were real: a treatment or plan that would seriously harm or kill a real patient is a fatal flaw, with a zero for the station, and the whole Small Animal Medicine section fails.
To pass
- The sheet scores 100 points: written record 80 (assessment with problems, top 3 differentials, tentative diagnosis and prognosis; treatment orders; a legal prescription) and oral handover 20.
- Writing style and spelling are not scored, but the record and orders must be legible, coherent and in a logical order.
- The station is 40% of the Small Animal Medicine section, which needs 60 weighted points to pass.
Official source
Manual of Administration for the Clinical Proficiency Examination
The AVMA publishes the CPE Manual of Administration free: every station, its assessment sheet and the score needed to pass.
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