Surgery & Traumatology final exam experience

Today, I completed my Surgery and Traumatology final exam.

Me and three Hungarian students waited outside the room until an examiner came. We drew topics, one from each of three envelopes. I pulled,

1. Asepsis and antisepsis, nosocomial infections
2. Treatment of GERD, it's clinical manifestations and etiology
3. Proximal and middle shaft lower leg fractures

I grabbed some paper and sat down to write out my topics. 

There were two examiners. One for the Surgery topics and one for the Traumatology topic. The Surgery examiner was Prof. Dezső Kelemen and the Traumatology examiner was Dr. Tibor Máthé. 

One of the Hungarian students started their Surgery exam and when the other examiner arrived, another started their Traumatology. The other student and I sat to make some notes. 

Here are my notes from the exam.

After all the Hungarians had been examined, Dr. Tibor Máthé came to examine my Traumatology topic, which was the last one, Proximal and middle shaft lower leg fractures. I started by saying the things I had written on my paper. He didn't have too many questions, but here they are.

Doctor: What is ASIF?

Me: Association for the study of internal fixation.

Doctor: What is the name of the external fixation device?

Me: External fixator.

Doctor: What are the types of plate fixation?

Me: LISS (Less invasive stabilisation system) and LCP (Locking compression plate). 

Doctor: What is the most common type of device we use?

Me: (thinking)

Doctor: I will draw.

He drew this picture of a tibia with a middle shaft fracture.

Me: Intramedullary nail. (I guess he didn't hear me when I said it before) 

Doctor: Good, it's a 5.

Next, I moved around the room so that I was sitting in front of Prof. Kelemen. I started with Asepsis and antisepsis, nosocomial infections. Once again, I began by mentioning the things I had written.  

Professor: What are some specific types of antisepsis?

Me: Disinfectants or sterilisation...

Professor: Can you name some types of sterilisation?

Me: Heat (...thinking)

Professor: Gas. Okay can you tell me some causes of nosocomial infections?

Me: For UTI's E.Coli, for pneumonia Pseudomonas, Klebsiella. There's also MRSA, MSSA, VRE...

Professor: Okay, next topic...

Next, I talked about Treatment of GERD, it's clinical manifestations and etiology. I started with the ethology, the Professor soon interrupted me to ask his own questions,

Professor: How can we diagnose GERD?

Me: Endoscopy or gastroscopy.

Professor: What are two other tests we can do after?

Me: Manometry, pH-metry.

Professor: For how long do we do the manometry?

Me: 24 hours.

Professor: Okay, what are the treatment options?

Me: PPIs, Histamine 2 receptor antagonists, Nissen fundoplication.

Professor: Do you know the old classification of GERD?

Me: (thinking)

Professor: Nowadays, they more popular is the Los Angeles classification but before this was the Savary-Miller classification.

Me: Oh yes. I remember the Los Angeles one.

Professor: Okay good, it's a 5.

Overall, the exam was pretty chill. We were in the examining room for about just under an hour, but my exam itself took only 15 minutes. I think I was more nervous and stressed than anything else. 

One less exam now, just 2 more to go!