UCAT: Situational Judgement

[ucatboy]

To be honest, I wouldn't be too worried about raw scores/bands for SJT. Bands are still a good indicator of how well you are going, and if the UK version is cheaper, then there won't be much to gain from paying more to switch to the Aus version. The raw score doesn't matter too much for SJT compared to the other sections, as it is not part of the percentile, but if you want to apply to a uni that takes SJT into consideration, then that's different. I wouldn't pay extra to see my SJT scores scaled, bands work fine (personally).

Seconded - it's not worth the ridiculous surcharge for the "Australian" edition - as far as I can tell, it's a cheap way to get more money from Australian students who are more inclined to pay for expensive prep courses, as they have in the past (pre-2018 UMAT days). Bands, in conjunction with the "x standard deviation(s) above/below the mean" and "x% above the mean" should give you a reasonable indication of where you're at.

 

[sevun]

To be honest, I wouldn't be too worried about raw scores/bands for SJT. Bands are still a good indicator of how well you are going, and if the UK version is cheaper, then there won't be much to gain from paying more to switch to the Aus version. The raw score doesn't matter too much for SJT compared to the other sections, as it is not part of the percentile, but if you want to apply to a uni that takes SJT into consideration, then that's different. I wouldn't pay extra to see my SJT scores scaled, bands work fine (personally).

Seconded - it's not worth the ridiculous surcharge for the "Australian" edition - as far as I can tell, it's a cheap way to get more money from Australian students who are more inclined to pay for expensive prep courses, as they have in the past (pre-2018 UMAT days). Bands, in conjunction with the "x standard deviation(s) above/below the mean" and "x% above the mean" should give you a reasonable indication of where you're at.

Awesome, thank you guys for the advice!

 

[cocodreams]

So I went with appropriate but not ideal because confidentiality has been breached already so it seems appropriate to report to higher authorities. How would you explain 'inappropriate but not awful'? I always get confused when to report to a higher authority When do we report to a higher authority when patient confidentiality has been even mildly breached (e.g. talking about patient in public)?

 

[Fili]

View attachment 3488
So I went with appropriate but not ideal because confidentiality has been breached already so it seems appropriate to report to higher authorities. How would you explain 'inappropriate but not awful'? I always get confused when to report to a higher authority When do we report to a higher authority when patient confidentiality has been even mildly breached (e.g. talking about patient in public)?

The first thing you must always do is confront the situation directly before getting higher authorities involved. If your friend has just started talking about it, it's best to make them aware of their faults asap before they breach any more confidential information.

My hot tip is to never involve higher authorities without having confronted the person first. Only after you've done that and they didn't budge should you involve the clinic supervisor etc.

Likewise, going straight to the clinic supervisor without correcting your friend not only risks them talking about the patient more in that situation, but it also ruins the relationship between you and your friend. Imagine if you were in the wrong and a week later you're told that your friend went to the clinical supervisor about you possibly breaching confidentiality. You'd be very upset that they didn't just confront you directly instead and this event would probably just make the relationship awkward moving forward.

 

[ucatboy]

View attachment 3488
So I went with appropriate but not ideal because confidentiality has been breached already so it seems appropriate to report to higher authorities. How would you explain 'inappropriate but not awful'? I always get confused when to report to a higher authority When do we report to a higher authority when patient confidentiality has been even mildly breached (e.g. talking about patient in public)?

Fili gave a great explanation, but I just wanted to re-emphasise that this question implies that you will do nothing about the immediate situation and let your friend continue talking about the patient until you get home/get to school the next morning and call the supervisor. Who knows what kind of personal information your friend will have let slip by then. That in itself constitutes an inappropriate approach imo, not stopping her when you were fully capable of doing so with a simple reminder.

This is before we even get to the complicated dynamics of escalating to a authority and risking a friendship.

 

[sevun]

Fili gave a great explanation, but I just wanted to re-emphasise that this question implies that you will do nothing about the immediate situation and let your friend continue talking about the patient until you get home/get to school the next morning and call the supervisor. Who knows what kind of personal information your friend will have let slip by then. That in itself constitutes an inappropriate approach imo, not stopping her when you were fully capable of doing so with a simple reminder.

This is before we even get to the complicated dynamics of escalating to a authority and risking a friendship.

When looking at SJT questions, should we always treat the action they give us (in this case, telling the supervisor) as the sole action taken after the described situation takes place?

 

[whys]

When looking at SJT questions, should we always treat the action they give us (in this case, telling the supervisor) as the sole action taken after the described situation takes place?

Mostly yes, unless stated that the person will do something else later.

 

[sunnyrain]

Hello everyone.
Just a question: are doctors allowed to talk about patients, as long as they are in a private place without anyone in the public overhearing? Does this mean that a 'breach of confidentiality' exists only when the public hear the doctors talk about patients?

 

[ucatboy]

Hello everyone.
Just a question: are doctors allowed to talk about patients, as long as they are in a private place without anyone in the public overhearing? Does this mean that a 'breach of confidentiality' exists only when the public hear the doctors talk about patients?

You shouldn't be sharing the information of your patients under your care with anyone who is not taking care of the patient.

 

[nb]

Hello everyone.
Just a question: are doctors allowed to talk about patients, as long as they are in a private place without anyone in the public overhearing? Does this mean that a 'breach of confidentiality' exists only when the public hear the doctors talk about patients?

No. Essentially, you can't just go home and talk to your cousins about your patient's information. This is a huge breach and if it was a question in SJT, would be a very inappropriate thing to do.

 

[cocodreams]

In scenarios where a medical student is overburdened with workload incl. extracurriculars etc will it mostly be inappropriate but not awful to cancel the extracurriculars? If they had exams coming up and it was difficult revising, would it then be appropriate but not ideal to cancel extracurricular/something they are organising (e.g. charity event, ball, etc)

 

[cocodreams]

For this, I feel like it's still very inappropriate because it's beyond the medical student's limitations and they are providing information that may be misleading, especially with the 'think'? Does anyone else think it's different?

 

[aspiringdocxxxx]

Could someone please help me with this question? What does the explanation mean by "due to the fact that there is work that must still be completed..." and how does this impact his decision.
Also for this question, wouldn't it appropriate as she has a large waiting time so she should go look after her other patients?

 

[whys]

Also for this question, wouldn't it appropriate as she has a large waiting time so she should go look after her other patients?
View attachment 3548

Imagine you are a doctor and a patient comes to see you. The patient starts crying and is upset. You aren't going to tell them to leave, no matter how politely you say it, because you are dismissing their concerns and being apathetic to the patient's feelings. It is the doctor's job to ensure that the patient has all the necessary information about their diagnosis and inform them of anything they need to know, especially with something as serious as cancer. Ms Gourlay's reaction seems very plausible for someone who is told they have cancer, so the doctor should attempt to calm her down and explain what her next steps are, not telling her to leave. The fact that there are other patients waiting to be seen isn't important at all because the doctor needs to ensure the patient is fully attended to/treated before moving on (imagine you go to the doctor's and the doctor tells you that you have terminal cancer then asks you to leave - this would never be appropriate no matter how big the waiting time is).

 

[garmonbozia]

Could someone please help me with this question? What does the explanation mean by "due to the fact that there is work that must still be completed..." and how does this impact his decision.View attachment 3547
Also for this question, wouldn't it appropriate as she has a large waiting time so she should go look after her other patients?
View attachment 3548

1. The important thing is that the work has to get done somehow - so whether or not Sam has a track record of not doing his fair share of the work is not as big a concern as how the work is going to get done as quickly and as best as possible.
2. It is very inappropriate for a doctor to respond to a crying patient by asking them to leave, no matter how 'politely' this is phrased. The patient's emotional wellbeing when they've just been diagnosed with a terminal illness takes priority over the fact that the other patients at the clinic will have to wait a bit longer.

 

[cocodreams]

Could someone please explain why this wouldn't be A?

 

[Fili]

View attachment 3571
Could someone please explain why this wouldn't be A?

I think it's just one of those questions that you get used to seeing with practice. Although, you should also think about what's very important in the situation which imo is how Antonio is directly impacting the patients rather than impacting the health profession. I think for these questions, I always try to think outside of the given text and see what's very important in the situation as it often helps put the questions into perspective of order of importance.

 

[cocodreams]

Could someone please explain why it's appropriate but not ideal? I thought it would be very appropriate

 

[ucatboy]

View attachment 3582
Could someone please explain why it's appropriate but not ideal? I thought it would be very appropriate

Perhaps the question is suggesting that you should play a role in comforting the boy rather than "your kid, your problem, let me know when he's ready".

 

[whys]

View attachment 3582
Could someone please explain why it's appropriate but not ideal? I thought it would be very appropriate

Don't quote me on this, but I think the most appropriate response in this situation would consist of the dentist attempting to calm the child down and addressing the child's discomfort. Sure, it's good to get the parent involved, but it would be better if the dentist helps too.

EDIT: wow, of course ucatboy would beat me to it