RCSI Aptitude Test

Part 2 – OSCE

Professional Review Book

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Nursing Manthra’s RCSI Aptitude Test – Part 2 OSCE Professional Review Book

Practical Nursing Skills • Clinical Stations • Viva Questions • Mnemonics • Clinical Charts • Drug Review

The Nursing Manthra RCSI Aptitude Test – Part 2 OSCE Professional Review Book is a comprehensive practical and clinical revision resource developed for internationally educated nurses preparing for the Part 2 Practical/OSCE component of the RCSI Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery Overseas Aptitude Test for General Nurses, undertaken as part of the NMBI registration pathway in Ireland.

Unlike an MCQ question bank, this book focuses specifically on helping candidates understand how to approach, perform, interpret and communicate within practical nursing OSCE stations.

The material has been structured to help candidates move beyond memorising fixed scripts and instead develop a safe, systematic approach that can be applied to different clinical scenarios.

What This Book Helps You Learn

The book guides candidates through the major elements required during an OSCE station:

READ THE STATION → ENSURE SAFETY → IDENTIFY → EXPLAIN & CONSENT → ASSESS → INTERPRET → ACT → REASSESS → ESCALATE → DOCUMENT

Each major station is presented in an easy-to-revise format using:

• Exam Focus
• Step-by-step OSCE approach
• Easy memory sequences
• Mnemonics
• Quick OSCE flow
• Sample candidate statements
• Patient-teaching points
• Viva questions and answers
• Red flags
• Escalation points
• Common candidate mistakes
• Exam tips
• “Remember” boxes
• One-line revision memories

This allows candidates to use the material for both detailed study and last-minute revision.

Comprehensive OSCE Station Review

The book covers a broad range of nursing situations relevant to General Nurse practical assessment, including:

• Infection prevention and hand hygiene
• PPE, sharps and healthcare waste
• Vital signs
• NEWS/INEWS
• ISBAR communication
• Updated sepsis recognition and management
• Admission assessment
• Falls-risk assessment
• MUST nutritional screening
• Waterlow and pressure-area care
• Wound dressing
• IV infusion and PVC assessment
• VIP score
• Respiratory/chest-infection care
• Oxygen therapy and inhaler teaching
• Medication administration
• Prescription errors and drug calculations
• Reflection and professional communication
• Patient teaching
• Student-nurse teaching
• Next-of-kin education
• Confusion and delirium
• Dementia and older-person care
• Bronchoscopy
• Coronary artery disease
• Diabetes
• Heart failure
• Stroke
• MRI
• IV conscious sedation
• Constipation
• Colonoscopy
• Gastroscopy
• H. pylori teaching
• Chest-pain assessment and GTN
• Compartment syndrome
• CPR and adult basic life support
• Glasgow Coma Scale
• Seizure management
• Frailty and deconditioning
• DVT/VTE prevention
• Atrial fibrillation
• Hypertension and ABPM
• Osteoporosis, osteopenia and DEXA
• Obesity, BMI and waist circumference
• Pre-operative care
• Post-operative care
• Post-operative bleeding
• Stoma care
• Urinary catheter care
• CSU and CAUTI prevention
• Blood glucose monitoring
• Safeguarding
• Open disclosure
• End-of-life care
• Social prescribing
• Time-critical medications
• Acute deterioration and escalation

Updated Sepsis Review

A major feature of this edition is the updated sepsis chapter based around the current HSE Adult Sepsis Screening Tool referenced by RCSI for the General Nurse OSCE.

Candidates are guided through:

Suspected Infection → Screening Trigger → Time Zero → ABCDE/INEWS → Red or Amber Flag → Appropriate Sepsis Management → Reassessment → Escalation → ISBAR

The chapter also explains:

• Probable versus possible sepsis
• Red and Amber flags
• Current Time Zero concept
• Sepsis 6
• Antimicrobial timing
• Blood cultures
• Lactate
• Fluid management
• Oxygen targets
• Reassessment
• Septic shock
• Critical-care escalation

This makes the book particularly useful for candidates who may previously have studied older sepsis-screening formats.

Easy Mnemonics and Memory Tables

A major aim of this book is to make complex clinical information easier to recall during a time-limited OSCE.

Examples include:

ABCDE

Airway → Breathing → Circulation → Disability → Exposure

ISBAR

Identify → Situation → Background → Assessment → Recommendation

Patient Teaching

Assess Knowledge → Explain → Demonstrate → Teach-Back → Questions → Summarise

Medication Viva

Class → Use → Biggest Risk → Monitoring → Teaching

Wound Care

Prepare → Patient → Remove → Aseptic Field → Clean → Cover → Clear → Document

Seizure

Safe → Time → Protect → Airway → Observe → Help → Recover → GCS → Document

Final Station Check

Safety → ID → Consent → Assessment → Action → Reassessment → Escalation → Documentation

The book also contains quick-reference tables designed for rapid revision immediately before the examination.

Clinical Charts and Documentation Practice

OSCE preparation requires more than learning clinical theory.

The book therefore includes and reviews important clinical documentation and visual-reference material relating to areas such as:

• NEWS/INEWS
• Fluid balance
• Drug prescription and administration
• IV fluid prescription
• Blood glucose
• Falls assessment
• MUST
• VIP/PVC assessment
• Clinical observation
• Other relevant nursing charts

Candidates are encouraged to practise both:

COMPLETING THE CHART

and

INTERPRETING WHAT THE CHART MEANS

because identifying deterioration and taking appropriate action is a key nursing competency.

Drug Review for OSCE and Viva

The book contains a focused drug-review section covering medicines commonly connected with the clinical situations discussed throughout the material.

Medicines include examples such as:

• Aspirin
• Clopidogrel
• Atorvastatin
• GTN
• Furosemide
• Ramipril
• Metformin
• Amoxicillin
• Nitrofurantoin
• Salbutamol
• Beclomethasone
• Pantoprazole
• Lactulose
• Senna
• Ferrous fumarate
• IV fluids
• Vaccines
• Sedation-related medicines

The emphasis is not merely on memorising doses.

Candidates are encouraged to remember:

CLASS → INDICATION → MAJOR RISK → MONITORING → PATIENT TEACHING

Focus on Clinical Reasoning

The practical test is not simply a test of memorised sentences.

Throughout this book, candidates are encouraged to ask:

• What is happening to this patient?
• What should I assess first?
• What finding is abnormal?
• What does the finding mean?
• What should I do now?
• Does this require escalation?
• What should I reassess?
• What should I communicate?
• What should I document?

The central learning approach is:

ASSESS → INTERPRET → ACT → REASSESS → ESCALATE

This helps candidates approach unfamiliar station variations without depending entirely on memorised scripts.

Viva Preparation

The book contains focused viva questions throughout the chapters.

Candidates are encouraged to use:

ANSWER + RATIONALE

rather than giving only a one-word response.

For example:

Why should blood pressure be checked before GTN?

A strong response explains that GTN is a vasodilator that may lower blood pressure further, so BP assessment helps ensure safe administration.

This approach strengthens clinical understanding as well as viva performance.

Common Candidate Mistakes

Another major feature of the book is the identification of mistakes that commonly reduce performance during simulated clinical assessment, such as:

• Forgetting patient identification
• Forgetting hand hygiene
• Missing allergy checks
• Reading observations without interpreting them
• Focusing only on the total INEWS score
• Failing to recognise a dangerous single abnormal parameter
• Continuing a procedure despite deterioration
• Forgetting reassessment
• Delaying escalation
• Giving an unstructured handover
• Forgetting documentation
• Delivering a memorised patient-teaching speech without checking understanding
• Performing the expected scenario rather than the scenario actually presented

Final OSCE Readiness Section

The final section brings the whole book together with:

• Universal OSCE safety checks
• Time-management guidance
• Equipment awareness
• Professional presentation
• Medication safety
• Documentation checks
• Escalation principles
• Red-flag recognition
• Viva strategy
• Final readiness checklist

The candidate is encouraged to finish every station by mentally checking:

SAFE?

IDENTIFIED?

CONSENT?

ASSESSMENT COMPLETE?

ABNORMALITY RECOGNISED?

ACTION TAKEN?

REASSESSED?

ESCALATED?

DOCUMENTED?

PATIENT UNDERSTANDING CHECKED?

Who Is This Book For?

This book is designed for internationally educated nurses preparing for the RCSI Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery General Nurse Overseas Aptitude Test – Part 2 Practical/OSCE assessment associated with NMBI registration in Ireland.

It can be used for:

Initial OSCE preparation → Station-by-station study → Clinical-skills revision → Viva practice → Mock OSCE rehearsal → Final examination revision

Separate Part 1 MCQ Book

PLEASE NOTE:
This book is focused on Part 2 – Practical/OSCE preparation.
Part 1 – Theory/MCQ Review Material is provided separately and contains the dedicated MCQ question bank with answers and rationales.