Counselling a 22-year-old woman starting the combined oral contraceptive pill
A timed 10-minute counselling OSCE station with reading time, a warning bell and an examiner-style weighted checklist including critical items, marked the way a real examiner would mark it.
Counselling10 min15 checklist items
- Station type
- Counselling
- Time
- 10 minutes, after 60s reading
- Total marks
- 29
- Critical items
- 7 (missing one fails the station)
Candidate instructions
Setting: You are a foundation year 2 doctor in a general practice clinic in the UK. Your next patient is a 22-year-old woman who has been prescribed the combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP) by her GP and is attending for a counselling appointment. She is starting the pill for the first time. Your task is to counsel her on how to take the COCP, what to do if she misses a pill, the risks associated with the pill, and when it will not be effective. You have 10 minutes for the consultation. You should take a brief history to ensure she is suitable, use a structured approach, and invite any questions. You are not required to examine the patient or write a prescription.
How the station runs
- 60 seconds of reading time with the instructions above, and nothing else.
- 10 minutes on the clock, with a warning bell before the end.
- The examiner's checklist, 15 weighted items worth 29 marks, revealed only when the station ends.
- Your score, with a critical-fail flag if a safety-critical item was missed.
The checklist stays hidden until the station is over, exactly as it would outside the exam room.
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A free account starts the clock: reading time, the station itself with a warning bell, then the examiner's checklist and your score.
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Educational content for students and clinicians in training. It does not replace professional judgement, local protocols or current prescribing information.