ABA OSCE: how to prepare

The ABA’s published OSCE format is seven eight-minute stations, each with four minutes to review the scenario, recorded for grading. It assesses communication, professionalism and technical skills related to patient care (ABA). The topics are in the OSCE content outline; the ABA’s FAQ says to prepare for the current outline (FAQs).

1. Open: introduce yourself and your role, confirm who you are talking to.
2. Ask first: what they understand and what worries them.
3. Explain: plain language, short sentences, no jargon.
4. Options: for consent, the benefits, the main risks and the alternatives, including doing nothing when that is reasonable.
5. Respond: acknowledge emotion before adding more facts.
6. Close: check understanding, agree on next steps, invite questions.

For a complication or an error, be honest and specific about what happened, apologize, explain what happens next and how it will be followed up. For ethics stations (for example, a patient refusing blood), respect the patient’s informed choice and explore what alternatives they would accept.

The outline lists interpreting monitors, interpreting echocardiography and ultrasonography, and applying ultrasound; the ABA’s FAQ says point-of-care ultrasound is tested at the Application of Ultrasound and the Interpretation of Monitors and Echocardiograms stations (FAQs). Practice describing what you see in a fixed order, then what it means, then what you would do.

Work through the ABA’s sample OSCE scenarios with a timer. For the oral half of the exam, see SOE tips and the full APPLIED Exam guide.