Oral Examination Master of Advanced Studies

Oral examination of a case report

• In the 10 cases for the case reports the candidate has to be the primary clinician
• Has to have taken place during the study period
• The majority of tests and diagnostics has to be performed by the candidate him/herself
• One case out of the 10 case reports is randomly selected for the oral examination, the office will contact the Program Director (PD) of the respective discipline and ask for agreement. The PD has the final word if the case should be chosen for the oral examination (veto option)
• The oral examination consists of presentation of the case (12-15 min, must not be exceeded) and questions/discussion (15-25 min)
  – Grading/evaluation of presentation is done by the PD of the respective discipline or an appointed specialist from the teaching team of the program, the Educational Committee and Director of Education (5-10 min)
  – Pass or fail grade for oral examination and discussion
• The oral examination is a stand-alone examination. Total grade for the thesis module consists of the average grade of all 10 individual grades of the 10 case reports. The grade of the oral examination is pass or fail.
• The selected case report is circulated among the examiners, in order to determine 1-3 questions each; also, the evaluation of the case by the PD can be handed out by request of an examiner

Grading

Grading (pass or fail) is based on the following criteria:

• Quality of the presentation
  – Quality of pictures
  – Layout of ppt slides
  – Amount of text
  – Presentation of data
  – Fluency of oral presentation
• In-depth knowledge, presentation of current literature important to the case
  – Citations of case-related up-to-date literature to support case discussion
  – Case should be presented within a scientific context and supported by scientific data
• Anticipation of difficulties or complications and how they are dealt with
  – For example: weighing different treatment options
  – For example: weighing used treatment with current recommendation

Presentation of clear message and evidence of clinical competence

• Reconstruction of the case should be possible, step-by-step approach, accuracy of documentation
• Ability to competently answer the questions by the PD and EdCom
  – Bringing the case into a scientific context
  – Intermediate level of knowledge in the field of the respective discipline
• Oral examination stands alone and has to be passed to fulfil the complete thesis requirements
• “Red card” if it turns out that
  – the case was not the candidate’s own case
  – the candidate is unable to answer questions asking for basic knowledge
• Oral examination is recorded after consent of the examination candidate and all examiners for later revision if requested by the candidate. The recording will be stored until the grades are validated and then deleted
• Passing grades: pass or fail
  – If a fail, the oral examination can be repeated with a different case report in the next semester, not earlier than 3 months after the failed attempt
  – Case examination can be repeated two times

Questions will be asked by the examiners on the presented case.

– Potentially, more questions may be asked about the remaining 9 case reports
– It has to be shown that the candidate has clinical competence and skills
– It has to be shown that the candidate has performed the case him/herself

Declaration/statement that the candidate has done the case by him/herself

– If it turns out that the candidate did not perform the case = it’s not their own case,the candidate fails and will be expelled from the program

How should the presentation look like?

• The presentation has to be prepared by the candidate him/herself
• The case should be presented with Powerpoint or an equivalent program
• Movies or similar animated pictures need to be embedded into the presentation
• Slide format 16:9
• Duration of the presentation should not exceed 15 min

– Title page
– Introduction
– Case presentation
– Discussion
– Conclusion

The candidate must familiarise themselves with the Zoom platform as the presentation will be shared via Zoom.