The AU Final-Year OSCE Checklist
A station-by-station OSCE checklist for Australian and New Zealand medical students sitting university clinical finals. Covers the 5 station types, the named frameworks examiners mark for, and the AU-specific items (PBS, eTG, Mental Health Acts, indigenous frameworks, Medicare item context) that US and UK resources skip.
What's in it
The universal opening
The 6-item sequence to run in the first 60 seconds of every station. Mechanical, no deviation. The bottom 5-10 marks per station.
The universal closing
The 6-item closing sequence including explicit safety-netting with named return-trigger symptoms.
History stations
SOCRATES, ICE, HEADSS, CAGE, AUDIT-C, and the AU-specific must-asks (indigenous identity, pack-years, AU standard drinks, pregnancy, vaccinations).
Examination stations
Named exam routines for CVS, respiratory, abdominal, cranial nerves, peripheral neuro, MSK, MSE, paediatrics. Plus the "offer to complete" line that picks up free marks.
Counselling stations
The chunk-and-check structure, plain-frequency risk communication, SPIKES for breaking bad news, AU-specific references (Health Direct, MHTP, NDIS, PBS, interpreter offer).
Procedural stations
The consent-indications-equipment-asepsis sequence. IV cannulation, NG tube, catheter, LP, suturing, ECG.
Ethics and communication
Capacity (4-part test), Gillick competence, mandatory reporting thresholds, AHPRA escalation, AU Open Disclosure Framework, VAD positioning, state Mental Health Acts.
AU items examiners mark for
Generic AU drug names, PBS context, eTG references, NIP schedule, screening programs, SEWB and Te Whare Tapa Whā frameworks.
Day-before checklist
What to do (and not do) the night before. Plus a one-page reference card to skim in the corridor before the exam.
Who wrote it
An anaesthetics registrar in rural NSW who has examined OSCEs and watched a lot of capable students lose marks on the same mechanical items: skipping the explicit safety net, not naming the framework out loud, not offering to complete the examination, forgetting the interpreter offer. The checklist is the cheat sheet I wish I'd had in MD4. It's a free companion to the PRIMEX Medical Students app, which adds the OSCE simulator and AU-context notes if you want the daily practice layer.
How to use it
- Read it once early in clinical years to set the structure.
- Practice stations with the checklist beside you, ticking off items.
- Pair it with a marking-grid OSCE simulator if you have one (the PRIMEX med-student OSCE simulator works for this, free 7-day trial; a study partner with the checklist works too).
- The week before exams, run the universal opening and closing 10 times each out loud until reflexive.
- Use the one-page reference at the end the morning of the exam.
Want OSCE practice with marking-grid feedback?
The PRIMEX Medical Students section has an OSCE simulator with an AI examiner across all 5 station types, plus 577 study notes and 11,485 spaced-repetition flashcards calibrated to AU final-year level. 7-day free trial, no card required.
See the med student app