PACES course to be conducted by British tutors at HFH

Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC) is going to organise third Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) of the United Kingdom Practical Assessment of Clinical Examination Skills (PACES) course here at its New Teaching Block in Holy Family Hospital from April 17 to 20.

The MRCP UK Paces Course being arranged under the leadership of Principal RMC and Chief Allied Hospitals Professor Muhammad Umar would be conducted by UK tutors trained by the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom. PACES (Practical Assessment of Clinical Examination Skills) is designed to test the clinical knowledge and skills of trainee doctors who hope to enter higher specialist training.

PACES, half-day examination that takes place in a clinical setting in a hospital or in clinical skills centre sets rigorous standards to ensure that trainees are competent across a range of skills and ready to provide a high standard of care to patients.

The previous two courses organized by the RMC took place in March and September in 2016. It is important that RMC is the first institution in Pakistan that has been organizing such courses for PACES preparation as this course has never been conducted in any other centre of the country and candidates have to travel to UK or UAE to prepare for this Paces Course.

The aim of this course is to bring the MRCP UK examination centre in Pakistan at RMC and if this happens, it will bring Pakistan at par with India and UAE which has examination centres for many years, said Senior Registrar at HFH Dr. Zahid Mahmood Minhas while talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday.

Dr. Minhas who is supervising arrangements being made for the course, said the course will be conducted by UK Tutors Dr. Isma Kazmi, Dr.Ahmad Waleed and Dr. Asif. These Consultants work in UK and are tutors of Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom; he said adding they are involved in conducting the exam of MRCP in UK.

The participants of the course will come from different parts of the country including trainees who have passed their MRCP Part 1 and 2 examinations and are intended to appear in MRCP Paces Exam in UK in coming months, he said.

The four-day course is comprised of, introduction about the exam format,  detailed preparation for all the five stations of Paces Exam followed by MOCK examination with feedback to every candidate, said Dr. Minhas.

He said Dr. Saima Usman, Dr.Tayyab Saeed Akhter, Dr. Muhammad Faheem, Dr. Shahar Yar and Dr. Irum are working hard for making arrangements for the course.