Master the ABA’s

7-Station OSCE Circuit!

The Ultimate Board Prep OSCE Curriculum

The UBP OSCE Curriculum covers all eight skills

included in the most current version of the ABA’s OSCE Content Outline.

→ The curriculum addresses each of these skills in a way that optimizes your learning and ability to successfully navigate the scenarios you may encounter during the exam. Topic overviews, pictures, videos, and mock scenarios are all utilized to ensure you are able to demonstrate the proficiency required by the ABA as you navigate the OSCE seven-station circuit.

here.

OSCE Small Group Training Sessions

Participation in The OSCE Small Group Training Session

ensures that you make the most of your invested preparation time as you prepare for the OSCE portion of the Applied Exam.

→ This 2-hour live online session is strategically scheduled periodically throughout the year with ABA test weeks in mind.

Optimize your preparation
Identify areas of strength and weakness
Develop those skills most essential to a strong performance on exam day

ABA APPLIED EXAMINATION

OBJECTIVE STRUCTURED CLINICAL EXAMINATION (OSCE)
CONTENT OUTLINE

Each OSCE scenario will address one of the following skills:

Communications & Professionalism

Discussion of Treatment Options and Informed consent (Obtain informed consent from a patient)

→ The successful candidate will demonstrate the following behaviors:

Demonstrates understanding of and concern for the situation of the patient
Explains the indications for the proposed treatment options
Explains conduct of proposed treatment options in lay terms
Explains benefits and risks of treatment options, including both less severe/more common and more severe/less common relevant risks
Discusses strategies for minimizing risks of the treatment options
Elicits questions and responds appropriately in lay terms
Confirms a final decision with the patient or authorized health care proxy regarding the treatment options and obtains affirmative consent without coercion

Peri-procedural complications (Conduct a focused evaluation of a peri-procedural complication, formulate an action plan, and discuss this plan with the patient)

→ The successful candidate will demonstrate the following behaviors:
- Elicits history relevant to the complication and current symptoms
- Performs focused physical evaluation if appropriate
- Discusses potential causes
- Discusses potential outcomes
- Presents plan for further evaluation and/or treatment if appropriate
- Elicits questions and responds appropriately in lay terms
- Demonstrates understanding of and concern for the situation of the patient

Ethical issues (Frame and discuss appropriate plans to address common ethical dilemmas in clinical care settings)

Anesthesiologists face ethical issues related to patients, colleagues, organizations, and society. To identify and frame ethical questions productively, anesthesiologists must understand ethical principles and be able to communicate in a professional, compassionate, and patient-centered manner. Addressing ethical issues requires anesthesiologists to identify stakeholders, obtain relevant information, clarify acceptable options, determine preferences, offer advice based on these preferences, negotiate differences, and act consistent with the core principles of respect for patient autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice.

→ The successful candidate will be able to identify ethical issues and incorporate them into their discussions with patients, families and other stakeholders as they relate to:
- Confidentiality and privacy
- Decision-making capacity, informed consent, informed refusal and voluntariness
- Distribution of resources
- Interprofessional obligations
- Organ procurement
- Potential conflicts of interest
- Potentially inappropriate treatment
- Life-sustaining medical treatment

Communication with other professionals (Effectively communicate with other healthcare team members in a professional manner)

→ The successful candidate will demonstrate the following behaviors:
- Communicate in a clear and professional manner
- Prioritize communication of information most relevant to patient care
- Demonstrate understanding of the concerns and perspective of other health care professionals through active listening
- Recognize the potential for conflict and initiate conflict resolution as appropriate
→ Candidates may also be asked to demonstrate understanding and application of team-related skills, including:
- Leadership - team orientation and coordination
- Mutual performance monitoring
- Backup behavior
- Adaptability
- Providing formative feedback and facilitated debriefing

Practice-based Learning and Improvement (Articulate and apply principles of patient safety and quality improvement to a clinical scenario)
→ The successful candidate will demonstrate behaviors consistent with application of the commonly-accepted elements of quality improvement processes; including those directed toward patient safety; these elements include the following:
- Measure current outcomes and benchmarks if appropriate
- Devise change in practice in collaboration with stakeholders if appropriate
- Educate and trains clinicians regarding change in practice as appropriate
- Implement change in practice
- Measure outcomes after change in practice

Technical Skills

Interpretation of monitors (Identify clinical conditions associated with patterns of data presented on monitors)
→ The candidate will be presented with simulated monitors which will include relevant parameters from the list below:

Electrocardiogram
Arterial blood pressure: non-invasive (value) or invasive (waveform and value)
Central venous pressure – waveform and value
Pulmonary arterial pressure – waveform and value
Pulmonary artery occlusion pressure - value
Cardiac output - value
Mixed venous oxygen saturation - value
Pulse oximetry – waveform and value
Capnography – waveform and end tidal value
Qualitative and quantitative neuromuscular blockade – value (testing to start in 2026)
Fetal heart rate monitor – waveform and value (testing to start in 2026)
Airway pressure – waveform and peak, PEEP values
Airway flow - waveform
Tidal volume – waveform and end-tidal values
Respiratory rate, Inspiratory and Expiratory Times
Flow-volume loops - waveform
Temperature – Value

→ The successful candidate will integrate this information to identify clinical conditions chosen from among the following areas:

Perioperative cardiac events
Perioperative respiratory events
Other perioperative emergencies
Ventilatory modes used in normal and critically-ill patients

Interpretation of echocardiograms and surface ultrasound of lung (Interpret basic transthoracic or transesophageal, lung and pleural images relevant to anesthesia practice)
→ The successful candidate will be able to use 2-dimensional and color flow Doppler to identify relevant anatomy, make qualitative diagnostic assessments, and provide treatment recommendations. Pulsed-wave and continuous-wave Doppler will not be tested. Scenarios will be chosen from among the following areas:
- Biventricular function and wall motion
- Presence or absence of an atrial septal defect
- Volume status assessment- hypovolemia and response to volume therapy
- Pulmonary emboli
- Air emboli
- Basic valvular lesions
- Pericardial effusions
- Aortic dissection
- Pleural effusion
- Pneumothorax
- Pulmonary edema
Transesophageal echocardiography images will be chosen from the following 11 standard views:
- Midesophageal Four Chamber
- Midesophageal Two chamber
- Midesophageal Long Axis
- Midesophageal Ascending Aortic Long Axis
- Midesophageal Ascending Aortic Short Axis
- Midesophageal Aortic Valve Short Axis
- Midesophageal Right Ventricular Inflow-Outflow
- Midesophageal Bicaval
- Transgastric Midpapillary Short Axis
- Descending Aortic Short Axis
- Descending Aortic Long Axis
Transthoracic echocardiography images will be chosen from the following 5 standard views:
- Parasternal Long Axis
- Parasternal Short Axis (Left Ventricle Midpapillary)
- Apical Four Chamber
- Subcostal Four Chamber
- Subcostal IVC Assessment
Lung and diaphragm images may include:
- Lung
- Pleura
- Diaphragm
- Artifacts (A-lines, B-lines)
Abdominal ultrasound images will include (testing to start in 2026):
- Right Upper Quadrant
- Left Upper Quadrant
- Pelvis
- Gastric
Application of ultrasonography (Identify relevant normal anatomy using ultrasonography)
→ The successful candidate will identify the relevant anatomy using an ultrasound probe with a simulated patient and, where applicable, may be asked to demonstrate simulated needle placement technique for scenarios chosen from among the following procedures:
- Vascular cannulation
- Nerve blocks
- Point of care ultrasound

Master the ABA’s7-Station OSCE Circuit!