Psychiatric History and Risk Assessment for Low Mood
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 min14 checklist items
- Station type
- History taking
- Time
- 10 minutes, after 60s reading
- Total marks
- 17
- Critical items
- 3 (missing one fails the station)
Candidate instructions
You are a medical student working in an outpatient mental health clinic. Your task is to take a psychiatric history from a 40-year-old woman who presents with low mood for two months, and to include a risk assessment for self-harm. You will have 10 minutes with the patient. Please begin by introducing yourself and confirming the patient's identity. You should then ask about the presenting complaint, current symptoms, past psychiatric and medical history, family history, social history, and conduct a detailed risk assessment. You will be observed by an examiner. Do not perform a physical examination. At the end, you will briefly summarize your findings and initial plan to the examiner.
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, 14 weighted items worth 17 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 "Psychiatric History and Risk Assessment for Low Mood"
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.