The Step 3 is now complete, and I couldn’t be more relieved; for some reason, studying for them was way more annoying to me than it should have been.

The last segment of the exam today consisted of nine individual clinical vignettes, and my job was to work from presentation through diagnosis and treatment. The exam is administered via an application that let me write orders, perform procedures, studies, and tests, call consults, and generally do what I’d do if I were actually caring for a patient. An artificial intelligence engine interpreted my requests, and asked for verification when it needed it; the system also enforced a virtual timeline, with results coming back in the same time period that they would have in the real world, and complications unexpectedly popping up as the workup and treatment took place. Aside from a pretty terrible interface and painfully slow responses at times, the application was cool, and I’m excited to see that medical testing is moving to the next level.

Now, for the Massachusetts licensing application…