As prepared by Chris Nickson, here are the practice written questions from a recent CICM Second Part exam practice session at The Alfred ICU, with recommended reading from LITF.com’s Critical Care Compendium and other FOAM sources:
Q1.
Discuss the issues concerning spontaneous breathing during mechanical ventilation in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
Learn more here:
https://lifeinthefastlane.com/ccc/spontaneous-breathing-and-mechanical-ventilation/
Q2.
Outline the specific therapies used in the management of:
- phaeochromocytoma (25%)
- myxoedema coma (25%)
- hypercalcaemia (25%)
- carcinoid syndrome (25%)
Learn more here:
https://lifeinthefastlane.com/ccc/carcinoid-syndrome/
https://lifeinthefastlane.com/ccc/phaeochromocytoma/
https://lifeinthefastlane.com/ccc/myxoedema-coma/
https://lifeinthefastlane.com/ccc/hypercalcaemia/
Q3.
With respect to the Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS):
- a) Outline how you distinguish between GBS and Critical Illness Polymyoneuropathy (CIP) (50%)
- b) What are the current treatment options in GBS? Briefly outline the supporting evidence (20%)
- c) What is the prognosis of GBS and what factors are associated with a worse outcome? (30%)
Learn more here:
https://lifeinthefastlane.com/cicm-saq-2013-1-q10/
https://lifeinthefastlane.com/ccc/icu-acquired-weakness/
https://lifeinthefastlane.com/ccc/guillian-barre-syndrome-gbs/
You can access all the previous practice questions since 2014 here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_Ta8IvVaVtc5Il7-kJwj6qKGu54OmifJGRUWCXud8dY/edit
See this link on INTENSIVE for exam resources:
https://intensiveblog.com/resources/#3