OSCE's and Driving

Last week saw the end of our time at university, and guess what, it was exam time. Well an exam of sorts, the grading of the course is varied with written papers, placements competency, assignments and OSCE's.

Now OSCE's involve you being observed doing a scenario and tested on your safety, and that you provide the right level of treatment for the patient you have been presented with. The pass grades for these are pretty steep at 70%, any mistake you make you are marked done by 10% and any major mistakes that compromises your safety or the safety of your patient is an instant fail, so no pressure :)

Our OSCE was a cardiac arrest with defib needed, fortunately we have done this to death, no pun intended, and I passed, which is a relief. I can now concentrate on placement now without worrying about it.

I am not completly free of tests however, as you may guess a major part of working on a ambulance is driving. I already have a car licence but am required to have the C1 category on my license to drive large good vehicles (LGV), so next week I have another theory test if I pass that I can go straight onto the LGV driving practical, which is a week long training and then the test. It will be good to get it out the way, although I fear I have picked up too many bad driving habits!! Of course once thats out of the way, then comes blue light training :)