MRCPCH Clinical Courses Reviews 83

It was an insightful experience with many of the cases which I have only read in books seen in person. Will recommend the course over and over again.

Wide variety of clinical cases . Comprehensive course for clinical exam preparation.

Very good course with great cases for preparation for MRCPCH

Excellent teachers
Real patients with significant findings

This was a very intense course with 2 days jam packed full of cases. We saw a variety of interesting clinical signs, and had the opportunity to practise a whole range of examinations, communication scenarios, histories and development stations. I had been recommended the course by colleagues who have since passed their exam following attending this course and I will be recommending this course to others in the future. It was a very tiring couple of days but definitely worth the trip.

I had heard great things about the course from people who had attended previously so wanted to attend. The faculty helpfully provided the programme way in advance along with a list of things to read up on prior to attending.

The course is packed with cases where you see a variety of clinical cases but also have the chance to do roleplays for the history-taking, communication and developmental station roles. Due to packing in so many cases, the day was intense and I was exhausted afterwards. The timing for stations were shortened. This did actually help for exam preparation to ensure you were moving through things quickly. For these reasons, I would recommend the course. The lunch was lovely but quite dense and it would have been nice to have a lighter option.

However, it would be amiss for me not to mention a few things that I feel would be important for the course to improve. Some of the facilitators seemed to be particularly off-hand. These particular facilitators and their manner were not conducive to a safe learning environment. I observed eye rolling whilst candidates were doing stations (at least this was behind their back because it would have been off-putting), facilitators looking at their phones whilst they were supposed to be watching candidates performing examinations, poor and sometimes rude phrasing of feedback or difficulty providing balanced feedback. To pay nearly £700 to be spoken in this manner and be made to feel as if you're a bother is not very kind or considerate when candidates are under high stress.

The moving around of all the candidates to each room seemed unnecessarily hectic. It would have made more sense for the facilitators and the patients/parents to move around (however, I appreciate that certain patients may have not been able to do this due to their mobility). There was no chance for toilet breaks which meant you had to make a choice of missing something potentially crucial to attend to your needs which wasn't very considerate.

However, I would highly recommend this course to people. I know if I had sat in a month's worth of clinic, I probably would not have seen such relevant clinical cases nor been taught important clinical skills to make my chance of passing better.

Excellent course

Very useful course providing opportunity to practise examination with lots of paediatric patients with signs, history taking, communication and development stations over two days.

Great variety of cases to practice during the course, including clinical station patients with clinical signs that may otherwise be difficult to gain experience in examining.

The stations were done in shortened time frames which may be a downside for some, but this allowed more patients to be seen/ scenarios to be practiced in the time available.

Overall, a worthwhile course which was incredibly helpful for my exam preparation.

Great course with about 50 cases seen/practised over 2 days! Many of these cases are rare and usually only seen in courses/exams. There were lots of signs and I highly recommend this course to everyone taking the MRCPCH Clinical Exam!

The Tunbridge Wells MRCPCH clinical course provided a valuable opportunity to gain exposure to a diverse range of patients with clear clinical signs and consultants with extensive knowledge of the exam process, which is a significant asset when preparing for an exam of this nature. It is quite intense but very worth it.

Very comprehensive course, covers a lot of patients and clinical signs which was good! I think ideally this would be good as a 3 day course with an opportunity for a mock and detailed feedback and for everyone to have a go at each station e.g. developmental/histories (as there wasn't always time for feedback on examination technique etc or for everyone to do everything, as the course was very time pressured). Despite this, I will still be recommending this course to my colleagues for the exam in the future and feel it has been very beneficial.

The MRCPCH Clinical Course at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Hospital offers an excellent and realistic insight into actual exam scenarios. The two-day programme is very well structured and covers a wide range of essential stations, including clinical examination, developmental assessment, history taking, and communication skills, all supported with real patient interactions. I found this course extremely valuable, and it significantly enhanced my preparation for the MRCPCH clinical examination.

Incredibly thorough course with various consultants assessing our examination, communication and history taking skills in the style of the RCPCH clinical exam.

The course had a large variety of patients who kindly gave their time for our exam preparation and included diagnoses that I had not seen in real life until I attended the course.

The examiners were encouraging but also gave much needed constructive criticism and overall my experience made me feel a lot more prepared for the exam. Thank you!

Good exposure to a variety of rare cases including neurological, abdominal and syndromic patients. A very busy course with experienced examiners who gave helpful advice. Appreciated the opportunity to listen to cardiac murmurs and get tips on improving examination technique. Opportunity to practice stations such as history taking, communication and development in addition to this. It would have been good to have more video station practice alongside the formal teaching session but understandably it was a very busy course. Timings could also have been more strict to give a more realistic feel for the exam but otherwise helpful to still go through with this.

Excellent course instructors , unique cases presented . Tips on technique ,presentation and management was very beneficial to my learning . Quite comprehensive and helpful indeed .

A fantastic course with a great range of clinical signs/conditions to see and examine. Plenty of opportunity to practice communication skills also! highly recommend.

The 2 day course at Tunbridge Wells was full of multiple cases with patients that had clinical signs, allowing participants to practice clinical skills and examinations and focusing on how to pick up clinical signs. The faculty were helpful in that key points were taught in preparation for the MRCPCH clinical exam and would definitely recommend to future candidates who are looking for practice in the run up to the exam

Good hospital and decent varieties of cases for exam