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. (from CICM Second Part exam 2012.2 Q20)
With respect to non-convulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) in the critically ill:
- Give a definition for NCSE (20%)
- Outline the difficulties in making the diagnosis (20%)
- List the risk factors for NCSE (20%)
- Outline your approach to the management of a patient with suspected NCSE (40%)
Learn more here:
Q2. (from CICM Second Part exam 2014.1 Q24)
- Briefly explain the concept of the quantitative approach (Stewart’s approach) to acid-base analysis. (50%)
- How does the quantitative approach classify acid-base disturbances? (50%)
Learn more here:
Strong Ion Difference and Stewart’s physicochemical approach to acid-base chemistry
Q3. (from CICM Second Part exam 2015.2 Q8)
With reference to the parameters labelled in Figure 1:
- R (or CT)
- K (or CFT)
- Alpha angle
- MA (or MCF)
- A30 (or LY30)
- Explain what each parameter represents and what it measures. (60% marks)
- Suggest a cause of the haemostatic abnormality, and appropriate therapy, for each of the thromboelastogram profiles a) to f) shown below: (40% marks)
Learn more here:
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:
//intensiveblog.com/resources/#3