Focused History: 50-Year-Old Woman with Joint Pain and Morning Stiffness

A timed 10-minute history taking 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.

History taking10 min15 checklist items

Station type: History taking
Time: 10 minutes, after 60s reading
Total marks: 24
Critical items: 2 (missing one fails the station)

Candidate instructions

You are a junior doctor in the rheumatology outpatient clinic at a UK hospital. A 50-year-old woman has been referred by her GP with a six-week history of joint pain. Take a focused history from the patient. You have 10 minutes. Cover the presenting complaint, relevant systems review, past medical history, drug history, family history, social history, and impact on daily life. Do not perform a physical examination. Remember to look for red flags and provide appropriate safety netting advice.

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 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.

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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.