History taking & physical examination — the bedside exam
The other Internal Medicine topics get you through the theory station. This one is for the practical / bedside station: a real patient, a real history, a real head-to-toe examination, and an examiner who wants you to present what you found and what it means. It is written at the level a Debrecen sixth-year (≈ US MS4 / USMLE Step 2 CK) is expected to perform — every maneuver in the order you actually do it, what a normal vs abnormal finding looks like, and the one-liner the examiner is waiting to hear.
Use it as a checklist the week before, and as a script in the room. Reconciled from Bates' Guide to Physical Examination, 14e, the Stanford/Geeky Medics bedside-exam series, and the Rational Clinical Examination evidence. The interactive 12-lead ECG & 3D-heart trainer lives at the very bottom of the page — open it when you reach the cardiovascular section.
One habit that earns marks in every station: finish by telling the examiner how you would complete the assessment ("to complete my exam I would check the vitals, the other system, and a bedside ECG/urine dip"). Examiners reward the student who knows what they didn't do.
Unlock the rest of this topic
Subscribe to Internal Medicine for $10/month and unlock all 230 topics — full exam-structured notes, the State Exam questions integrated into every topic, and the downloadable Anki deck. Cancel anytime.
- ✓All 230 Internal Medicine topics, exam-structured
- ✓State Exam questions in every topic
- ✓Downloadable Anki deck (.apkg)
- ✓Cancel anytime
A recurring monthly subscription — $10/subject, renews until you cancel. By subscribing you agree to our Terms and Refund Policy, ask us to start access immediately, and accept that you lose your 14-day right of withdrawal once access begins.
Already subscribed? Sign in
