Disclosure of a medication error: double insulin dose to a 70-year-old inpatient

A timed 10-minute communication 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.

Communication10 min12 checklist items

Station type: Communication
Time: 10 minutes, after 60s reading
Total marks: 24
Critical items: 4 (missing one fails the station)

Candidate instructions

You are a final-year medical student on a ward in a district general hospital. You are asked to speak to Mr. Thomas Jenkins, a 70-year-old inpatient, about a medication error that occurred this morning. He was inadvertently given a double dose of his usual morning insulin (10 units instead of 5 units of insulin glargine). Under the duty of candour, he must be informed of this error. Your task is to explain the error, apologise, assess his risk, and plan appropriate monitoring. You have 10 minutes. You must not prescribe or administer any drugs; only discuss the situation.

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, 12 weighted items worth 24 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 "Disclosure of a medication error: double insulin dose to a 70-year-old inpatient"

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.