Chest Xrays.
Candidates were asked to describe the X-ray findings. Candidates were expected to comment on the presence and position of devices/foreign bodies, even if they were positioned correctly.
Introductory questions included:
"This the chest radiograph of an infant who is desaturating. Please list the abnormalities."
"This child underwent rigid bronchoscopy for inhaled foreign body. He is to be air-lifted to a tertiary hospital for care. Please list findings on this chest radiograph."
"This wheelchair bound woman deteriorated after a procedure. Please list the findings on this chest radiograph."
"This is the routine chest radiograph after cardiac surgery. Please list the findings."
"This patient deteriorated after a procedural intervention. Please list the findings on this chest radiograph."
Findings to be identified included: endobronchial intubation and right upper lobe collapse, pneumothorax and intercostal catheter, kypho-scoliosis and misplaced nasogastric tube, and misplaced pulmonary artery and pigtail catheters. Fifteen out of sixteen candidates passed this station.
Disclaimer: the viva stem above may be an original CICM stem, acquired from their publicly available past papers. Or, perhaps it is a slightly altered version of the original CICM stem. Or, it is a completely original viva stem, concocted by the monstrously amoral author of Deranged Physiology for nothing more than his own personal amusement. In either case, because the college do not make the main viva text or marking criteria available, almost everything here has been confabulated. It might sound like a plausible viva and it could be used for the purpose of practice, but all should be aware that it does not represent the "true" canonical CICM viva station.