MRCPI Part II Clinical (GM) Examination Information For Candidates - Updated for COVID-19 - Full Changes Listed Below

Sep 17, 2026

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MRCPI Part II clinical GM examination information for candidates describes the third assessment required for postgraduate doctors to become members of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. The document explains the examination’s purpose, eligibility pathway, and three component structure, including long cases, short clinical cases, and a short communication skills/ethics case. It details timing, examiner observation, scenario format, assessment domains, station topics, preparation steps, and COVID-19 update context.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Examination purpose and structure

Long Cases

Short Clinical Cases

Communication Skills/Ethics Case

Preparation and additional candidate information

Additional notes

MRCPI Part II Clinical (GM) Examination Information For Candidates Updated for COVID-19 (Full Changes Listed Below) The MRCPI Part II clinical GM examination is the third of three assessments which must be successfully completed in order to become a member of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (MRCPI) . It is a clinical examination for post-graduate doctors. The purpose of this examination is to: 1. Provide an exit examination from Basic Specialist Training, 2. Satisfy the application requirement to entry into Higher Specialist Training and 3. Select Members of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. It comprises of three elements: • 2 x 25 minute Long Cases • 4 x 10 minute Short Clinical Cases • 1 x 10 minute Short Communication Skills/Ethics Case Long Cases • Each candidate will perform 2 long cases. • Each long case will be 25 minutes duration. • Each case will be examined by one examiner (who remains at this station for duration of the examination) . • The long case will be similar to an outpatient encounter, or a clinical assessment of a patient in a Medical Admissions Unit. • All long cases are pre-written scenarios with trained role-players/actors. • The timing breakdown of the Long Case examination is as follows: o 25 minutes total: o 20 minutes in which • to take a history while observed by the examiner. • to perform a focused and directed examination. • a 10-minute time notification will be given. o 5 minutes to discuss investigations and management with the examiner. • The main assessment outcomes are to assess candidate’s competence in o Clinical communication skills (CCS) o Managing relationships with patients (MRP) o Physical examination (PE) o Identifying physical signs (IPS)– not marked o Differential diagnosis (DD) o Clinical judgment (CJ) o Maintaining patient safety and quality of care (MPSQ) • The cases will include patients with medical conditions from the following systems: o Cardiology o Respiratory o Abdominal o Endocrine o Dermatology o Neurology o Rheumatology • Candidates should prepare by performing as many of the above encounters as possible, making problem lists for patients and presenting the cases to senior colleagues under the time constraints of the examination. Short Cases There are two types of short cases: 1. Clinical cases 2. Communication skills cases Typically, there will be 4 clinical cases and 1 communication skills case. Clinical Cases • Each clinical case will last 10 minutes (with a standard period of examiner observation of 6 minutes, and a 4 minute discussion) . • Each case will be examined by one examiner (who remains at this station for duration of the examination) . • The short cases will include patients with medical conditions from the following systems: Station 1: Communication & Ethics Station 2: Cardiology or Respiratory Station 3: Endocrinology/Miscellaneous Station 4: Neurology or Locomotor Station 5: Abdominal • The timing breakdown of the examination is as follows: o 10 minutes total: o 6 minutes to talk to, or examine the patient (or interact with the communication station’s actor) o 4 minutes for presentation of findings and discussion of your management plan with the examiner. Communication Skills/Ethics case • Each communications skills/ethics case will last 10 minutes (with a standard period of observation of 6 minutes, before a 4 minute discussion) . • The candidate will be expected to interact with a simulated patient. • The candidate will be provided with a written instruction summarizing the case before the station begins. • Each case will be examined by one examiner (who remains at this station for duration of the examination) . • The cases will include communication scenarios relating to: o Information giving – example: discussing of treatment options with a patient with sexually transmitted infection o Breaking bad ne

FAQs

What is the purpose of the MRCPI Part II clinical GM examination?

It provides an exit examination from Basic Specialist Training, satisfies application requirements for Higher Specialist Training, and selects Members of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.

What are the three elements of the examination?

The exam includes 2 long cases (25 minutes each), 4 short clinical cases (10 minutes each), and 1 short communication skills/ethics case (10 minutes).

What communication and ethics scenarios may appear in the communication skills/ethics case?

Scenarios can include information giving, breaking bad news, consent, confidentiality under pressure, managing challenging situations such as organ donation discussions, and ethics issues such as reporting a colleague’s unsafe drug abuse.

Sep 17, 2026

Upload by Oliver