Topics to cover before exams…

1. Aged Care

  • Dementia / cognitive impairment / delirium
  • Medications management in the elderly
  • Advanced Care Planning
  • Falls
  • Frailty
  • Urinary and faecal incontinence
  • End-of-life care / palliative care
  • Elder abuse

2. Cardiology

  • Cardiovascular risk assessment and management
  • Hypertension
  • Lipid disorders
  • Ischaemic heart disease
  • Heart failure
  • Cardiac arrhythmias
  • AAA surveillance and screening
  • Valvular heart disease
  • ECG interpretation
  • Peripheral vascular disease / carotid artery stenosis

3. Dermatology

  • Non-malignant and malignant skin lesions
  • Benign lumps and bumps
  • Eczema / dermatitis
  • Psoriasis
  • Acne vulgaris
  • Rosacea
  • Skin infections: bacterial, viral, fungal, parasitic
  • Urticaria and pruritus
  • Drug eruptions
  • Skin manifestations of systemic disease
  • Leg ulcers
  • Hair and nail disorders
  • Minor dermatological procedures (e.g. cryotherapy, lesion biopsy, excisions)

4. Ear, Nose, and Throat Medicine

  • Otitis media and complications
  • Otitis externa
  • Cerumen impaction
  • Hearing loss
  • Tinnitus
  • Vertigo
  • Allergic rhinitis
  • Chronic rhinosinusitis
  • Upper respiratory tract infections
  • Epistaxis
  • Pharyngitis / tonsillitis / quinsy
  • Hoarseness
  • Ear exam (otoscopic examination and tuning fork tests)
  • Neck lumps
  • Dysphagia
  • Olfactory impairment
  • Obstructive sleep apnoea

5. Emergency and Rural Health

  • Basic life support and advanced life support
  • Hypoglycaemia
  • Anaphylaxis
  • Seizures
  • Approach to chest pain
  • Common chest X-ray findings
  • Burns: assessment and management
  • Foreign bodies (ears / nose / inhaled / swallowed)
  • Bites and stings
  • Acute behavioural disturbance
  • Sepsis
  • Rural health issues (e.g. Q fever, zoonoses, farming injuries)

6. Endocrine and Metabolic

  • Diabetes
  • Overweight and obesity
  • Thyroid disease and thyroid nodules
  • Electrolyte disturbances
  • Adrenal disease
  • Pituitary disease

7. Evidence-Based Medicine

  • Critical appraisal of guidelines and systematic reviews
  • Interpreting evidence, conflicts, and bias in medicine

8. Gastroenterology and Hepatology

  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Inflammatory bowel disorders
  • Coeliac disease
  • Hepatitis A, B, C
  • Alcoholic liver disease
  • Fatty liver disease
  • Chronic liver disease / cirrhosis
  • GORD / peptic ulcer
  • Food intolerances

9. General Surgery

  • Acute and chronic abdominal pain
  • Acute and chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer
  • Colorectal cancer
  • Biliary diseases
  • Diverticular disease
  • Rectal conditions / rectal bleeding
  • Groin lumps / hernias
  • Varicose veins

10. Genetics

  • Genetic conditions prevalent in Australia and inheritance patterns
  • Genetic testing (preconception, pregnancy, newborn, adulthood)

11. Haematology and Immunology

  • Venous thromboembolism: PE and DVT
  • Anticoagulation (warfarin, DOACs)
  • Anaemia and thrombocytopenia
  • Iron disorders (e.g. elevated ferritin, haemochromatosis)
  • Haematological malignancies (e.g. leukaemia, myeloma)
  • Asplenia / hyposplenism
  • Immunisations
  • Allergy / anaphylaxis

12. Medicolegal Issues and Ethics

  • Consent
  • Interprofessional ethics
  • Mandatory reporting
  • Completing sickness and death certificates
  • Social media in general practice
  • Disclosing errors
  • Responding to inappropriate test requests
  • Fitness to drive assessments
  • Managing patient aggression and violence

13. Men’s Health

  • Prostate cancer screening
  • Testicular and scrotal conditions
  • Haematospermia
  • Androgen disorders

14. Mental Health and Addiction Medicine

  • Mood disorders (depression, bipolar, perinatal depression)
  • Anxiety disorders (GAD, OCD, phobias, social anxiety, perinatal anxiety)
  • Insomnia
  • Borderline personality disorder
  • Eating disorders
  • Suicide risk assessment
  • Psychotic disorders (schizophrenia, drug-induced psychosis)
  • Problem gambling
  • ADHD
  • Addiction medicine (alcohol, smoking, methamphetamines, benzodiazepines, cannabis)
  • Drugs of dependence
  • Acute and chronic pain management / neuropathic pain

15. Musculoskeletal and Sports Medicine

  • Low back pain
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Gout
  • Sprains and strains / common sports injuries
  • Common fractures
  • Tendinopathies
  • Connective tissue disorders
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Polymyalgia rheumatica / giant cell arteritis
  • Limping / non-weightbearing child

16. Neurology

  • Headaches
  • Dizziness / syncope
  • Transient ischaemic attack and stroke
  • Seizures
  • Tremor
  • Closed head injury / concussion
  • Parkinson’s Disease
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • Restless leg syndrome
  • Trigeminal neuralgia and other neuralgias
  • Paraesthesia and peripheral neuropathy

17. Ophthalmology

  • Eye history and examination
  • Red eye
  • Corneal foreign bodies
  • Eyelid and lacrimal problems
  • Visual loss (sudden and gradual)
  • Glaucoma
  • Cataracts
  • Squint
  • Macular degeneration
  • Retinopathy (hypertensive, diabetic)
  • Dry eye syndrome

18. Oral Health

  • Dental infections and trauma
  • Approach to orofacial pain
  • Antibiotic prophylaxis for dental procedures
  • Common oral mucosal diseases / lesions

19. Paediatrics and Adolescent Health

  • Paediatric history and examination
  • Recognising serious illness
  • Febrile illnesses
  • Gastroenteritis
  • Croup / Bronchiolitis
  • Problem behaviour / Autism Spectrum Disorder / ADHD
  • Seizures in children
  • Constipation / encopresis / enuresis
  • Newborn check
  • Common newborn issues (feeding, sleeping, unsettled infant, jaundice, GORD, failure to thrive)
  • Common paediatric surgical issues

20. Renal and Urology

  • Acute and chronic kidney disease
  • UTIs / pyelonephritis
  • Urinary tract calculi
  • Haematuria approach
  • Incontinence
  • Asymptomatic bacteriuria
  • Benign prostatic hypertrophy
  • Prostatitis

21. Respiratory

  • Asthma (adult and paediatric)
  • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
  • Bronchiectasis
  • Spirometry interpretation
  • Pneumonia
  • Chronic cough
  • Haemoptysis
  • Pleural disease (pneumothorax, pleural effusion, pleuritic chest pain)
  • Pertussis
  • Cystic fibrosis
  • Influenza

22. Sexual and Reproductive Health

  • Taking a sexual history
  • STIs / Pelvic inflammatory disease
  • Sexual dysfunction (male and female)
  • Subfertility
  • Contraception
  • Gender dysphoria
  • Reproductive and pregnancy care (early pregnancy bleeding, unplanned pregnancy, uncomplicated pregnancy management)

23. Travel Medicine

  • Travel risk assessment
  • Travel immunisations
  • Malaria
  • Traveller’s diarrhoea
  • Fever in the returned traveller

24. Vulnerable Groups

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
  • Refugee and asylum seeker health
  • Abuse and violence
  • Child abuse and neglect / non-accidental injury
  • People with disabilities
  • Prisoner health
  • People in residential care

25. Women’s Health

  • Menstrual problems / abnormal vaginal bleeding
  • Vaginal discharge
  • Cervical screening
  • Breast symptoms
  • Menopause
  • Vulval dermatoses
  • Pelvic organ prolapse
  • Pelvic pain / endometriosis
  • Ovarian cysts / masses

26. Other

  • Workers compensation and return to work
  • Infectious diseases (including COVID-19)
  • Dealing with difficult patients
  • Approach to fatigue