MCQ's...Brainscan – serie

"Conclusions are usually considered guesses" Henry S. Haskins, American writer in Meditations in Wall Street Students' minds, whether undergraduate or postgraduate, soon become stale when faced with lectures or even not so large textbooks. Supplementing lecture notes and textbooks with multiple-choice questions, therefore, attunes the mind to this style of examination which the student will certainly meet and yet also relieves the tedium and monotony of the conventional learning route. This multiple-choice textbook, therefore, should be used side by side with lecture notes, textbooks and clinical teaching material. The book covers a wide field of genitourinary medicine. This necessarily overlaps with general medicine, urology, bacteriology, virology, psychiatry, sexual medicine, im­ munology and proctology. With regard to immunology, a basic set of teaching questions are included so that HIV disease may be more easily understood without recourse to immunology textbooks. The answers to the questions are not given in a uniform style. This is partly to relieve monotony, and partly because some questions need no explanation, others need a prose answer and yet others are best answered by a point-by-point explanation. We also provide references for those interested. There is some overlap between questions but only enough, we hope, to facilitate learning but not produce somnolence.

More MRCP Part 1 provides five further mock MRCP type examination papers for quick self-assessment. It contains another collection of multiple choice questions used in the Bloomsbury MRCP Part 1 course and supplements the previously published volume: Johnson/Pozniak, MRCP Part 1. Any candidate preparing for such examinations will find valuable guidelines as to the strengths and weaknesses of his knowledge.

This little book has been written primarily for the senior house officer in Accident and Emergency and the registrar pursuing a career in the specialty. I hope also that it will be of interest to medical students. Thanks to the initiative of Professor Miles Irving, Professor of Surgery, University of Manchester, medical students have been taught Accident and Emergency in Hope Hospital since 1974. Many of the answers to the questions here have been elaborated as a result of their enquiring minds. It has been a pleasure to teach them. MCQs should be informative and entertaining and not regarded as a tiresome chore merely because of self­ assessment scoring. I have omitted the boxes and the "don't know" response. The answers are either true or false. I have attempted to slot the questions into various sections with some degree of sequence, but there is an inevitable overlap particularly with regard to the sections on the unresponsive patient, poisoning and injury. The final section is a selected mixture of Accident and Emergency and I thought "Pot­ pourri" an appropriate title. I have enjoyed compiling the questions and I hope that both undergraduates and postgraduates will find reading them a painless and worthwhile exercise. Finally my thanks are due to my secretary Eileen Bates for her typing and patience.

This series of multiple choice questions is based on the textbook Common Eye Diseases And Their Management (1985), also from Springer-Verlag. The questions have been grouped to fit in with the chapter headings in the latter. Many of the questions are supported by expanded answers but further information should be sought in the textbook. The format of the questions has been arranged so that the number of true or false answers varies and we have taken pains to eliminate the ambiguities which tend to creep into multiple choice question papers. In compiling these questions, we have attempted to incorporate a number of key facts and it will be seen that these have occasionally been repeated for emphasis. A surprisingly large amount of information is contained in questions and answers, and simply reading through both can be a useful learning experience in itself. The questions have been aimed at the medical student level but it is hoped that they may be of some value to general practitioners outside ophthalmology and perhaps also to postgraduates. The computerised Kuder-Richardson reliability index, which measures the consistency of a student's perform­ ance, has shown these questions to be reliable in assessing a students' knowledge. A sample of these questions has been tested in another medical school and we understand that students' marks there equate well with the results from essay questions.

This selection of MCQs in rheumatology is largely aimed at MRCP candidates but some will be difficult for established rheumatologists and some will be possible for enthusiastic medical students. The format of the questions largely follows that used in the MRCP Part I examination with a few exceptions employing diagrams and assertion/reason questions (these are explained on p. vi). No gui­ dance on scoring is included since we feel that if an honest attempt is made at answering the question then the process is, in itself. educa­ tional. Some of the answers have been determined only after consider­ able discussion between us and as far as possible we have attempted to convey the views expressed in accepted British texts. Where answers seem contentious an appropriate reference has been given. Similarly the layout of the chapters largely follows that adopted by standard text books although the basic sciences have been incorpor­ ated within the individual chapters. We wish to thank Mrs. Dora Smith for typing and re-typing the manuscript according to the foibles of three different authors. Leeds, October 1988 P. S. Helliwell H. A. Bird V. Wright Assertion/Reason Questions These questions consist of two statements. The first statement is numbered 1 and the second is numbered 2. For example: 1. A positive family history of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is often found in patients with this disease. 2. There is an increased incidence of HLA-B27 antigen in patients with AS.

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This book contains 300 multiple choice questions and is equivalent to five full MRCGP examinations. However, the layout is not as five examinations, but in the 15 subjects which have been chosen as relevant to general practice by the MCQ group of the Royal College of General Practitioners Examiners. I hope that using this format of individual sections will enable the book to have a wider use than just as a crammer for the exam: it should also serve as an aid to trainers and course organisers in assessing trainees during their vocational training. The questions themselves are in the usual multiple choice style with a stem followed by five responses, which can be answered true, false or don't know. The usual scoring method for examinations is + 1 for a true, -1 for a false and 0 for a don't know. In keeping with the current thinking of the College MCQ group, the stems have been kept as short as possible and an attempt has been made to adhere to standard nomenclature.

Dermatology is a fascinating subject. This is a statement you might expect from a dermatologist, but what is the justification? It is a highly clinical specialty and sophisticated techniques of diagnosis are very much of secondary importance compared with clinical skills. The skin is important not only as an organ with vital physiological functions but also as a flag by which we communicate with the outside world. A perfect skin is desired by all, and upon this wish is based the multi-million pound cosmetics industry. Skin disease therefore places a strain on sufferers out of proportion to the disturbances in function which the pathology produces. A "leper" complex is frequent, and social and sexual contact may be shunned because of the embarrassment caused. It is also easy to overlook the contribution that cutaneous physical signs make towards diagnoses of internal disorders. Even straightforward factors such as the pallor of anaemia, the icterus of biliary obstruction or, quite simply, the age and sex of the patient are recognised immediately from visible signs in the skin. Like most other organs the skin has a limited repertoire of reactions, but these can occur in patients of all ages, combined together in an almost infinite number of permutations; hence the fascination referred to above. It has been estimated that 10% of consultations with general practioners are because of a skin-related problem, and therefore a working knowledge of dermatology is essential for anyone who has regular clinical contact with patients.

9th volume to be published in this successful series of re-vision / study aids, FRCR Part 1 is derived from thequestions used in the annual revision course held at TheRoyal London and St. Bartholomew's hospitals.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS covers all aspects of these diseases with extensive inclusion of dermatological conditions. The multiple choice questions and answers have been compiled by a highly experienced group of clinicians and researchers from two major STD/AIDS centres in the UK. These MCQs aim to help readers learn in an easy, effective and enjoyable way. The book is intended to make them think, to test themselves and check the standard of their knowledge in order to pass exams as well as to improve their clinical practice for their patients. It will be of use to all those in training in sexually transmitted diseases, doctors and nurses alike. The questions have been refined by representatives of these groups to provide interesting questions to test knowledge to different standards, whether to satisfy their own curiosity or their examiners'. It will be particularly helpful to those sitting examinations such as MRCP, MBBS, DipGUM as well as those attending specialist STD or AIDS courses.