Dominate Cardiopulmonary for PCE Written

“Sometimes the greatest rewards in life come from doing the things that scare you the most”.

I can very well relate to this quote now that I am standing on the other side of the fence. Few months ago, when I started preparing for my PCE written exam I had no idea that I will end up scoring highest marks in the subject I was confident the least (cardio-pulmonary system). Being able to overcome that fear of studying Cardio-pulmonary after more than a decade of becoming a PT graduate is extremely overwhelming. I have always been interested in Musculoskeletal and Neurological aspects of PT and it should not surprise anyone that I hold my Master’s in Orthopedic specialization. I do not remember touching books to study Cardio-pulmonary topics after I cleared my 4^th year of BPT. Moreover, I have always worked in Outpatient clinics where I never came across any patients having pneumonia, COPD or CHF, therefore, all it was convenient to forget Cardio-pulmonary so easily.

When reality hits me at the time I started preparing for PCE:

Obviously, I had to study everything from scratch to clear my license exam for Canada. It was intimidating to start studying from basics. There were moments when I doubted myself and thought that I am not a good PT because some of the topics I had to study were completely washed off from my brain due to nonuse. If you are sailing in the same boat, then this is the time for you to do some introspection and get that confidence back. This is me describing how I overcame my fear of Cardio-pulmonary and scored 94% on my 1^st PCE written attempt.

This is how I studied for my weakest areas:

• Timetable Topics: PCE Final Frontier
• YouTube videos: Physiology of heart and lungs
• Textbooks Study thoroughly: O’Sullivan, Reid & Chung and some topics from Hillegass as divided in the timetable and of course I discussed with the instructors at PCE Final Frontier to save time.
• Topics division: Pathophysiology, causes, risk factors, signs & symptoms, examination (patient history and observation), X-ray findings, breath sounds, etc.
• Validation of the content: Cases studies from Reid & Chung (gave me a better clarity for application).
• Interventions: I followed the same books that I mentioned above. O’Sullivan, Reid & Ching and Hillegass.
• Group studies: Teaching and questioning each other gives a better perspective of your content, especially when it is not your specialty. I found good study partners in the PCE Final Frontier telegram group.
• Open discussions: I never hesitated to share my thoughts while discussions during the live lectures and weekly discussion in the Telegram group of the PCE final frontier. 

Most importantly, I would emphasize on how consistent I was. There were many distractions or other priorities like work, family, household chores, my exercise routine and the biggest one “procrastination”. You must balance out everything. You must remind yourself everyday that, your preparation is your top-most priority at this moment.

Now go ahead and read the pointers one more time and plan for yourself and talk to the team member of PCE Final Frontier if you want. If I could do it, you can too!

Thank you for reading. I hope it helps you to get confident in the most over-rated subject of the PCE Written. You got this!

“Do one thing every day that scares you”- Eleanor Roosevelt