Specialty certificate examination preparation
Guide to revising for the specialty certificate exam
Sample AIM specialty certificate exam questions from the MRCPUK website
List of guidelines relevant to AIM (with links)
Best of five MCQs for the Acute Medicine SCE. Lane N, Powter L and Patel S. OUP 2016. Available from Amazon.
The science of successful learning - watch this short video
#MEM casts (Medicine East Midlands podcasts) - also available via Spotify, Apple podcasts or Twitter @medeastmids
Sample AIM specialty certificate exam questions from the MRCPUK website
List of guidelines relevant to AIM (with links)
Best of five MCQs for the Acute Medicine SCE. Lane N, Powter L and Patel S. OUP 2016. Available from Amazon.
The science of successful learning - watch this short video
#MEM casts (Medicine East Midlands podcasts) - also available via Spotify, Apple podcasts or Twitter @medeastmids
COVID-19
London School of Hygeine & Tropical Medicine short course
Public Health England COVID-19 pages British Thoracic Society COVID-19 guidance (including NIV) Coronavirus infection and pregnancy (RCOG guidance) UK Resuscitation Council ALS COVID-19 algorithm (adults) Internet Book of Critical Care (IBCC) COVID-19 UHDB COVID-19 clinical guidelines Brigham & Women's Hospital critical care COVID-19 guidelines Open access UpToDate COVID-19 webpages The Lancet COVID-19 Resource Centre Intensive Care Society poster: sustaining wellbeing during and beyond COVID-19 Useful animation for teaching (YouTube) Cardiology
Cardiac chest pain (evaluation of):
NICE guideline on chest pain of recent onset: assessment and diagnosis NICE guideline on unstable angina and NSTEMI: early management MCQs were used from the book by Lane et al (see top of page).
Other cardiology:
NICE guideline on the management of atrial fibrillation Recommended reading: Hampton JR. The ECG in Practice (international edition). Churchill-Livingstone, 2013. NICE guideline on acute heart failure: diagnosis and management NICE guideline on chronic heart failure: diagnosis and management NICE guidelines on heart rhythm conditions: an overview ESC guidelines on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of endocarditis ESC guidelines on the management of valvular heart disease
Syncope:
Syncope teaching slides Test your knowledge with these MCQs Images for MCQs NICE Guideline Transient Loss of Consciousness (2010) Quick reference guideline: syncope UK fitness to drive rules (DVLA) ESC 2018 guidelines for the diagnosis and management of syncope Critical care
ICM curriculum for AIM Registrars (taken from the AIM curriculum)
BTS guideline for oxygen use in emergency settings (2017) Oxygen therapy (chapter from Essential Guide to Acute Care 3rd Ed) Acid-base balance (chapter from Essential Guide to Acute Care 3rd Ed) Respiratory failure (chapter from Essential Guide to Acute Care 3rd Ed) NICE guideline on fluid therapy in adults
Sepsis and septic shock (Sepsis-3):
Sepsis teaching slides Sepsis (chapter from Essential Guide to Acute Care 3rd Ed) Test your knowledge with these MCQs JAMA article 'third international consensus definitions of sepsis and septic shock (Sepsis-3)' JAMA animation explaining new definitions of sepsis Video of the microcirculation in sepsis NICE Guideline on sepsis: recognition diagnosis and early management (NG51)
Non-invasive ventilation:
Leicester short guideline to NIV BTS/ICS guidelines for the management of acute hypercapnic respiratory failure in adults, 2016. Recommended reading: Kinnear WJM. Non-invasive ventilation made simple. 5m Publishing, 2014. Simonds AK. Non-invasive respiratory support: a practical handbook 3rd Ed, 2007. Arnold. Diabetes & Endocrinology
Diabetes:
American Diabetes Association diagnosis and classification of diabetes (review article) Diabetes overview from NICE Diagnosis & management of Type 1 diabetes: summary of NICE guideline (review article) Management of Type 2 diabetes: summary of NICE guideline (review article) EASD-ADA consensus report on the management of hyperglycaemia in Type 2 diabetes (2018) NICE guideline for hyperglycaemia in ACS New diabetes drugs recommended by NICE (review article) Joint British Diabetes Society for Inpatient Care clinical guidelines (includes DKA, HHS, hypoglycaemia and more) Managing complications of the diabetic foot (review article) Recommendations for end of life care for people with diabetes Watch this video that explains the 'incretin effect' Leicester diabetes website Leicester IDEA (inpatient diabetes education through animation) - handy YouTube videos
Endocrinology:
Endocrinology teaching slides Some more endocrinology (cases) teaching slides UK Society for Endocrinology clinical guidelines page Addison's Disease (review article) www.addisons.org.uk - useful website for patients and their families Thyroid storm treatment and management (Medscape article) Diagnosis and management of thyrotoxicosis (review article) Myxoedema coma (case report) UK guidelines for the management of pituitary apoplexy Hyponatraemia teaching slides Low sodium decision tree European guidelines on the management of hyponatraemia European guidlines on emergency management of severe symptomatic hyponatraemia Dizziness
This has its own category because dizziness covers medical, ENT and neurological problems, hence why it can be difficult ...
Dizziness teaching slides Video demonstrating the HINTS examination Test your knowledge with these MCQs Image for MCQs BMJ review article on vertigo Recommended reading: Bronstein & Lempert. Dizziness. A practical approach to diagnosis and management. Cambridge Univ Press, 2007 Gastroenterology & hepatology
Gatroenterology:
NICE guidance on acute upper GI bleeding in adults Management of acute upper GI bleeding (review article) Ischaemic colitis (review article) SIGN (Scottish) guideline: management of acute upper and lower GI bleeding BSG guidelines on the management of iron deficiency anaemia NICE guideline on irritable bowel syndrome in adults: diagnosis and management NICE guideline on the management of Crohn's disease NICE guideline on the management of ulcerative colitis You can find links to all the relevant gastroenterology guidelines at the BSG guidelines page. The National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) webpages
Hepatology:
BSG guidelines on the management of abnormal LFTs Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease - summary of NICE guideline Non-alcoholic FLD: a practical approach to diagnosis (review article) Diagnosis and treatment of alcoholic hepatitis (review article) Assessment and management of cirrhosis in adults - summary of NICE guideline Abnormal LFTs in pregnancy (review article) Alcoholic ketoacidosis (review article) Geriatric Medicine
Delirium teaching slides
Case histories worksheets Quick reference guideline delirium Prevention and management of delirium (review article) Anticholinergic burden scale (list of drugs) Top tips in Geriatric Medicine Recommended reading: Forsyth D, Wallis S. Best-of-5 MCQs for the Geriatric Medicine SCE. OUP, 2014.
Falls in older people:
Falls teaching slides Test your knowledge with these MCQs Falls (chapter from ABC of Geriatric Medicine) Quick reference guideline falls NICE Guideline for falls in older people (2013) NICE Guideline on osteoporosis: assessing the risk of fragility fracture (2012) UK clinical guideline for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis (2017) Haematology
Venous thromboembolism:
VTE teaching slides Test your knowledge with these MCQs NICE Guideline for VTE (2012) - summary of recommendations P37 Blog explaining the PERC Score Simplified PE Severity Index (PESI) score An example Ambulatory Care Centre ?PE guideline CTPA vs VQ in the diagnosis of PE BTS guidelines for the outpatient management of PE Quick reference guideline for investigation of ?PE in Ambulatory Care VTE during pregnancy and the puerpurium: acute management (RCOG: Green Top Guideline no 37b) Short video explaining the YEARS criteria for ?PE in pregnancy from the NEJM Investigation and management of VTE at unusual sites (British Society for Haematology) Management of upper limb DVT (review article) How to use d dimer in acute cardiovascular care (review article) High d dimer levels increase the likelihood of PE (Christopher Study) Infectious diseases
HIV medicine:
HIV teaching slides MCQs were used from the book by Lane et al (see top of page). British HIV Association website (including guidelines on testing, post-exposure prophylaxis, and management of opportunistic infections) Liverpool HIV drug interactions website
Influenza:
Seasonal influenza teaching slides Public Health England antiviral guidelines 2016-17 Summary antiviral guideline
Meningitis:
Meningitis teaching slides JAMA rational clinical examination meningitis Diagnostic accuracy of clinical signs in suspected meningitis How to perform a lumbar puncture (review article) BIA adult protocol for treatment of bacterial meningitis Information leaflet for relatives (Wales) Viral meningitis (review article) UK encephalitis guidelines |
Other infectious diseases:
ID teaching slides: malaria ID teaching slides: travel history Dengue fever (review article) Fever in the returning traveller (review article) Investigation and management of possible MERS-CoV (Public Health England algorithm) BIS guideline: fever in returned travellers BIS guideline: UK malaria treatment guideline BIS guideline: eosinophilia in returned travellers UK C difficile management and treatment guidelines UK guideline on the diagnosis and management of acute meningitis and meningococcal sepsis in immunocompetent adults MCQs were used from the book by Lane et al (see top of page). Maternal medicine
Managing acute medical problems in pregnancy (RCP Acute Care Toolkit 15)
RCP Toolkit 15 teaching slides Management of medical emergencies in pregnancy (review article) RCPSG maternal health resources Preventing maternal mortality video (YouTube) E-learning for healthcare: medical problems in pregnancy module 3 Ps in a pod poster Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) Hypertension in pregnancy: diagnosis and management (NICE guideline) - includes pre-eclampsia/eclampsia Recommended reading: Nelson-Piercy C. Handbook of Obstetric Medicine 3rd Ed. Informa Healthcare, 2009. Mental health
Persistent physical symptoms:
(a.k.a. 'medically unexplained symptoms') Recommended reading: O’Sullivan S. It's all in your head. Stories from the front line of psychosomatic illness. Vintage, 2016. Van der Kolk B. The body keeps the score: mind, brain and body in the transformation of trauma. Penguin, 2015. The funcional abdominal pain syndrome (review article) Health status by GI diagnosis and abuse history (prevalance study) What's new in Rome IV? (review article) The Rome Foundation - Rome IV Narcotic bowel syndrome (review article) Visceral pain - peripheral sensitisation (a brief explanation of the mechanism of 'centrally-mediated abdominal pain' - the new term for 'functional abdominal pain')
Challenging situations in mental health:
Challenging situations in mental health (adults) e-learning Mental Capacity Act or Mental Health Act flowchart Recommended reading: Brindle N, Branton T, Stansfield A and Zigmond T. A clinician's brief guide to the Mental Capacity Act 2nd Ed. RCPsych Publications, 2015. (Highly recommended! MHA Section 5(2) also covered). Neurology
Headache:
International classification of headache disorders Headache teaching slides Migraine update (review article) Chronic migraine (review article) Cluster headache (review article) Thunderclap headache (review article) Trigeminal neuralgia (review article) NICE Guideline for headache
Other neurology:
AMU ward round cases (Neurology) AMU ward round teaching slides Diagnostic criteria for autoimmune encephalitis Viral encephalitis guideline Guillain-Barre Syndrome and its variants (review article) Information about CIDP Neuromyelitis optica information Myaesthenia gravis (ABN management guidelines) Nitrous oxide myelopathy (review article) Cerebral vasculitis: a practical approach (review article) IIH guideline (review article with handy flowchart)
Seizures:
Seizures teaching slides Test your knowledge with these MCQs NICE Guideline for the Epilepsies (2012) Epilepsy prevalence, incidence and other statistics First seizure in adults (review article) Epilepsy in older people Patient information leaflet following a first tonic-clonic seizure Epilepsy Action website Non-epileptic attacks website (includes a patient information leaflet)
Transient ischaemic attack (TIA) and stroke:
TIA teaching slides Stroke teaching slides Test your knowledge with these MCQs NICE guideline on stroke and TIA in over 16s: initial management Quick reference guideline TIA NICE CKS: risk factor modification after TIA Oncology & palliative care
Oncology:
NICE guideline on neutropenic sepsis: prevention and management in people with cancer NICE guideline on metastatic spinal cord compression in adults: risk assessment, diagnosis and management RCP acute care toolkit no 7: acute oncology on the AMU
Palliative care:
RCP toolkit: end-of-life care in the acute care setting The Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines website Other
Clinical reasoning:
Clinical reasoning teaching slides UK Clinical Reasoning in Medical Education group www.creme.org.uk Worksheet 1 Worksheet 2 Common cognitive biases handout Bedblocker comic version A universal model of diagnostic reasoning (article) Recommended reading: Cooper N and Frain J [Eds]. ABC of Clinical Reasoning. Wiley, 2016.
Patient flow in hospitals:
Patient flow teaching slides Understanding patient flow (review article) Managing capacity and demand (review article) NHS Improvement Good Practice Guide: focus on improving patient flow FOCUS: operational site management principles (NHS Improvement)
Patient safety training (PST) course:
PST pre-course reading PST slides HFE error chain case study Just an routine operation video National Patient Safety Agency website Watch a short film of this training day!
Peri-operative medicine:
NCEPOD: elective and emergency surgery in the elderly Test your knowledge with these MCQs
Practical procedures:
The NEJM clinical videos in medicine are highly recommended and can be found via Google or by clicking on this YouTube link.
Quality improvement in healthcare:
Quality improvement teaching slides Institute for Healthcare Improvement resources Quality Improvement Toolkit A guide to SPC charts for clinicians Improvement leader's guide: process mapping Improvement leader's guide: measuring for improvement Improvement leader's guide: human dimensions of change Watch a short film of this training day! Recommended reading: Langley GJ et al. The Improvement Guide 2nd Ed. Jossey Bass, 2009. Jensen K et al. Leadership for smooth patient flow. ACHE Management Series/Health Administration Press, 2007.
Toxicology:
Toxicology teaching slides Poisoning in a nutshell (review article) - NB the paracetamol nomogram in this article has subsequently changed Toxbase (National Poisons Information Service website)
Work-based teaching:
RCP Toolkit no 5: teaching on the Acute Medical Unit Video of the 'One Minute Preceptor Model' One Minute Preceptor Model (review article) FutureLearn online course: developing expert educators for healthcare professions Renal
Renal teaching slide
NICE AKI guideline (2013) MCQs were used from the book by Lane et al (see top of page) Acute kidney injury (chapter from Essential Guide to Acute Care 3rd Ed, 2020. Wiley) 'Think kidneys' campaign Respiratory
You can find links to all the relevant Respiratory Medicine guidelines (including NICE) at the British Thoracic Society guidelines page
BTS quick reference pleural diseases guideline Hepatic hydrothorax (short article) PVL pneumonia (review article) Rheumatology & Dermatology
Rashes and anaphylaxis:
Resuscitation Council UK anaphylaxis guideline (treatment, investigations, observation and follow-up) Rash and anaphylaxis teaching slides
Rheumatology:
Joint guidelines on the management of the hot, swollen joint in adults Rational Clinical Examination (JAMA): does this adult patient have septic arthritis? RCP giant cell arteritis guideline Virtual ward rounds
In virtual ward rounds, people work in pairs to do a 'senior review' of a junior doctor's clerk-in. The junior doctor's history and examination findings are accurate, but due to their lack of knowledge and experience, there may be omissions and the diagnosis and management plan may be incomplete or incorrect. In pairs, debate and discuss each case and your management plans. Aim to spend no more than 20 minutes on each case.
Cases-1 Cases-1 teaching slides Why do lab tests vary? Cases-2 Cases-2 teaching slides Quick reference PE guideline1 Quick reference PE guideline2 |