PLAB Part 1: Syllabus

The subject matter of the PLAB Part 1 exam is defined in terms of skills and content. Questions begin with a title that specifies both the skill and the content they are testing.

Skills

The exam tests four groups of skills in approximately equal proportions:

• Diagnosis
• Investigations
• Management
• The context of clinical practice

Given the important facts about a patient (such as age, gender, nature and duration of presenting symptoms), a candidate will be asked to:

• Diagnosis:
  Select the most likely diagnosis from a range of possibilities
• Investigations:
  Select or interpret diagnostic tests
• Management:
  Select the most suitable course of treatment, with knowledge of drug therapy and side effects.

The context of clinical practice may include questions testing skills in:

• Awareness of multicultural society
• Application of scientific understanding to medicine
• Explanation of disease process
• Explanation of disease process
• Health promotion
• Legal ethical
• Practice of evidence-based medicine
• Understanding of epidemiology

Content

The content tested is generally defined in terms of patient presentations and includes:

• Accident and emergency medicine (to include trauma and burns)
• Blood (to include coagulation defects)
• Cardiovascular system (to include heart and blood vessels and blood pressure)
• Disorders of childhood (to include non-accidental injury and child sexual abuse; fetal medicine; growth and development)
• Dermatology, allergy, immunology and infectious diseases
• Disorders of the elderly (to include palliative care)
• ENT and eyes
• Gastrointestinal tract, liver and biliary system, and nutrition
• Metabolism, endocrinology and diabetes
• Nervous system (both medical and surgical)
• Orthopaedics and rheumatology
• Peri-operative management
• Psychiatry (to include substance abuse)
• Renal System (to include urinary tract and genitourinary medicine)
• Respiratory system