Counselling a Patient Starting Sertraline for Depression
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 min13 checklist items
- Station type
- Counselling
- Time
- 10 minutes, after 60s reading
- Total marks
- 19.5
- Critical items
- 3 (missing one fails the station)
Candidate instructions
You are a foundation year 1 doctor working in a general practice. A 30-year-old man, who was recently diagnosed with depression, has been prescribed sertraline 50 mg once daily and has come to see you for a counselling appointment about his new medication. His GP has asked you to discuss the medication with him. You have 10 minutes to counsel him about the expectations of treatment, early side effects, the delay to benefit, and when to seek help. Explain what the medication does, how to take it, and any necessary precautions. The patient will ask questions; respond appropriately.
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, 13 weighted items worth 19.5 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.
Log in to run "Counselling a Patient Starting Sertraline for Depression"
A free account starts the clock: reading time, the station itself with a warning bell, then the examiner's checklist and your score.
Taught in
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Educational content for students and clinicians in training. It does not replace professional judgement, local protocols or current prescribing information.