Final FRCA & FCARCSI Revision (Booker) Course

Places Limited

Application Form

Accommodation

Director’s Notes:-

The eponymous Booker Course is organised and run by Dr Peter Booker, Consultant Anaesthetist, Liverpool Children’s Hospital. The Booker Course is the Flagship of the Courses run by the Mersey School for the Final FRCA Examination.
The Course opens on the Sunday (14.00) and closes the following Friday (16.00).
The days are long (08.30 - 18.30) and exhausting as no time is wasted.

Because of the intensity, the course has to be considered as unsuitable for other than those who are approaching the Final Examinations.

 The mornings are mainly spent addressing an SAQ paper with subsequent analysis and advice as to Presentation and Content.
While the SAQ paper is being marked, the candidates complete a short MCQ paper which, as with the SAQ paper, is subsequently discussed interactively.
In the afternoons, there is a programme of Lectures or Tutorials on specific topics.
The course is held twice a year, usually in the month before the opening of the RCA ( London) Final Examination.
Places are limited to 90 Candidates

*Lunch @ The Everyman Bistro (See www.everyman.co.uk)

NB A number of candidates assume that the course is at Aintree Hospitals.

Please Note

THE LIVERPOOL MEDICAL INSTITUTION

is in the

City of Liverpool & 5 – 6 miles from Aintree Hospitals

Please See Special Notices Below Concerning the Waiting List Protocols

Application Procedure for March 2009

Carefully download & complete the Generic Application Form taking particular care to print the email address & appropriate telephone numbers clearly.
You must include an Email Address & Telephone Numbers by which you can be easily contacted.

Applications without an email address & contact telephone numbers cannot be considered.

Submit your cheque with the completed Application Form.

The cheque needs to be made out to: LHCH (MSA) dated no later than 01/01/09

Important Notice concerning Confirmation

You will receive by email an Acknowledgement of your Application but this will Not be a receipt.

Receipts are issued with Certificate of Attendance at the close of the courses.

You will also be given a Number for the purpose of Reference. Henceforth, you should quote the number when communicating with the office.

If you have not received an acknowledgement by email within 14 days of posting your application, you should email:

David.Strong@aintree.nhs.uk

If you do not receive a response within 5 days, email again & copy to:-

David.Gray@aintree.nhs.uk

Please do not use this latter address in the first instance.

With the acknowledgement, you will be advised as to whether your number is on the Course List or on the Waiting List.

As some early applicants with places on the Course List subsequently decide to postpone sitting the examination and thus withdraw from the course, many of those numbers on the Waiting List are transferred to the Course List.

The capacity of the course is 90 candidates. At the time of this posting, (May 08), the Course List is Open and there is no Waiting List. However, by the turn of the year,if our experience is anything to go by, the course will be over-subscribed and a Waiting List will be extant. Our further experience is that many of those who apply for a place markedly in advance, will subsequently decide not to sit the examination in April and withdraw. The withdrawals reduce the size of both the Course List and the Waiting List. To be fair to those who are to end on the Waiting List, we will need to establish the Definitive Course List as soon as possible to afford those who have little chance of obtaining a place time enough to look elsewhere.

Unless we know for certain that those with places on the Course List are definitely going to attend, there is the danger that, on the day, some do not turn-up and thus a matching number of applicants on the Waiting List are denied a place. Thus, we ask that applicants confirm their intention of attending the course sufficiently ahead of time such that any places on the course created by cancellation can be offered to those on the Waiting List. The confirmation is endorsed by the understanding that, once confirmation is received, the cheques will be presented for payment and subsequently there will be no refund.

Identifying the Definitive Course List in this way enables us to afford those remaining on the Waiting List sufficient time & opportunity to find an alternative course.

Regarding the March 09 course, as soon as we have the makings of a Waiting List, we will be contacting all those whose names are on the Course List asking them to confirm that they wish to retain their place. The cheques of any who confirm acceptance of a place will be presented for payment and the candidates will be advised that there will be no refunds available to any to who subsequently fail to attend the course. Once we have the names in, should there be any spare places by reason of withdrawals, we will move down the Waiting List until we have a full complement of candidates. After that, we will advise those on the residual Waiting List that they have not got a place thus giving them time to consider other options. We applied this protocol for the first time in September 2006 since when we have ended-up with exactly 90 candidates.

Important Note for Mersey Deanery Trainees re The Booker Course

Trainees on the Mersey Deanery Rotation will only be admitted to the Booker Course once and thus they should only apply for the examination and for the associated Final Revision Course when they feel the Deserve to Pass and Not in the Hope of Passing.

Further, Mersey Deanery candidates should submit their applications promptly as they cannot presume a place on the course.

Comments from Feedbacks

"Well organised"
"Very dedicated people"
"Excellent course"
"Friendly"
"Best Pharmacokinetic course I’ve been to"
"Very practical & exam-orientated"
"Very well laid /Exam orientated"
"Excellent course – SAQ?MCQ practice invaluable – If I fail I won’t be able to blame the course !"
"Excellent course"
"Excellent, nice to be treated well to nice food and environment, makes one feel human"
(Overall mark for the course out of 20?) "20+"
"Definitely very useful"
(Which topics do you think could have been omitted?) "None"
(Are there other topics you wish to see included?) "Don’t think so. I think it is just about right"

"Excellent food. Great idea having lunch in the bistro"
"Very good course. Thanks very much"
"Great help during preparation for the exam"
"Thanks a lot"

  "Like the ‘exam conditions’
"Well run"
"Great organisation"
"I feel much more prepared to tackle the written exam"
"More jaffa cakes!! Thanks"

Subject Feedback Comments  

Paediatric

Good. Very topical
Interactive and enjoyable
Concentrate on difficult topics
Good interaction

Exam Technique

A pleasure to meet the infamous (sic) Dr Bricker
Funny exam anecdotes very interesting
Good humour
Excellent exam technique
Brilliant
Good. Very enjoyable
Entertaining
Good

ICU Techniques

Enjoyed it
Good coverage
Very good content
Very good talk

Ventilation

Very good lecture
Very succinct and crisp
Useful
Very good. Easily grasped

Head Injury

To the point
Very useful tips
Covered problem areas eg weaning. Very good lecture

Cardiac

Useful
Exhaustive topic but good

 Metabolic

Excellent
Best strong ion explanation
Very useful
Brilliant classroom dynamics
Innovative
Very good. Especially SID
Quick but relevant. Made sense
Very interactive
Really good talk

Chronic Pain

Detailed, fun
Good
Good coverage
Extensively covered. Very good lecture

Acute Pain

Very clear
Excellent session. Perfectly exam orientated
Well covered
Good SAQ advice
Excellent
Excellent
Exam focused. Very good
Fantastic
Exam orientated
Seemed really keen for us to do well in the exam

Anatomy

Entertaining
The best
Excellent. Best of the lot. Very exam orientated
Very clear and helpful
Good handout – practical
Excellent – very exam orientated. Covered all questions – helpful
Brilliant. Very funny
Excellent teacher
A dry subject well presented
Simple
Brilliant
Very helpful
Refreshing
Exam focussed. Very entertaining speaker
Good fun
Would like more of these

 Renal

Excellent
Good for VIVA
Excellent physiology renal
? relevance 3 weeks pre exam but great lecture

Obstetrics

Very good. Appropriate effort taken to provide answers to previous SAQs
Reviewing exam questions very useful
Especially liked summary of old question and answers
Very good handout and answers to old SAQs
Very comprehensive handout. Excellent lecture
Very exam orientated. Good lecture
Thank you for questions and answers
Covered all
Enjoyable and humorous
Exam orientated, interesting

Overall Comment
"Thanks Dr Booker and your colleagues for an excellent effort. It helped me a lot."
"Excellent course. I feel infinitely more prepared for the exam"
"Lunch excellent – best food ever on a course"
"Excellent course – thank you"
"I sincerely appreciate all the hard work Dr Booker and others helping have put in. Sincere thanks"
"Great help for exams. SAQ practise was very very helpful. Thanks."
"A well organised course…very useful…I cannot think of any possible improvements."
"Thank you Dr Booker for helping us!"