General practice · Explanation & counselling

The breath test came back positive - General practice

EasyYear 4 · Curtin style · 10 min + 2 min reading · 4 tasks

2 min reading · 10 min station · reminders at 2 min

Station - Instructions for candidate

You are a fourth-year medical student on placement at a general practice in Girrawheen.

Danny Tran, a 38-year-old warehouse supervisor, saw the GP three weeks ago with indigestion and was sent for a breath test. He has come back for the result, which is printed on your sheet.

Urea breath test (13C)

Urea breath test (13C)
ItemValueReference range
13C urea breath testPOSITIVE - delta over baseline 18.4 per milNegative <4.0 per mil

Patient reported no proton pump inhibitor or antibiotic use in the preceding 2 weeks.

Your tasks are to:

  1. Take a focused history.
  2. Interpret the result and explain it to Mr Tran.
  3. Counsel Mr Tran about the treatment.
  4. Discuss your management plan with Mr Tran.
  • You do NOT need to examine the patient.
  • You do NOT need to summarise your findings to the examiner.

This is a 10-minute station, with 2 minutes of reading time.

Ask the examiner

Say what you would examine or request, the way you would in the station. Nothing is named until you ask for it.

Whatever the examiner recognises is revealed below. Or pick a numbered item to reveal it blind.

Investigations

Say what you would request, as you would in the station. This station does not hand results back - the examiner notes what you ask for.

Examination

Say what you would examine and how; the examiner reports what you would find.