Practice for medical students — surgical cases to clerk

Written and clinically reviewed by Dr. Mohammed Maree, consultant minimally invasive and bariatric surgeon, Al-Makassed Hospital, Jerusalem, and Assistant Professor of Surgery, Al-Quds University. Last updated 6 October 2026.

Choose how to practise

Six ways in. Start with the simulator before a ward round, or the dry stations before the OSCE.

6 tools

Simulator · 9 casesHistory-taking simulatorClerk a patient from the referral stem. Choose your questions, ask for the examination, commit to a diagnosis, then see what you missed.Start a case →OSCE · 27 stationsDry stationsX-rays, blood results, scores and charts, surgical equipment and prescribing, each with the examiner’s questions and hidden model answers.Open the stations →Model clerkings · 12Learn history writingTwelve complete histories and examinations as they should read on the ward, with a key box beside every part explaining why.Read a clerking →FlashcardsClinical signsEvery sign from the twelve cases. Say how you elicit it and what it means, then flip the card. The ones you miss come back.Flip the cards →Challenge · 60 questionsChampionTen single-best-answer questions, thirty seconds each. Fast right answers score more, and your best round goes on the board.Take the challenge →Calculators · 3Clinical calculatorsIV fluids, corrected calcium and the R-factor, worked out in the browser with the teaching behind each one.Use a calculator →

What the simulator covers

Nine patients, each a presentation you will meet on a general surgical take. The answers are what a patient would actually say, and the scoring is based on whether you asked the things that change the diagnosis.

9 cases

01Right iliac fossa painMigratory pain and the visceral-to-parietal transition Acute abdomen

02Vomiting bloodThe drug history patients do not think to mention GI bleeding

03Rectal bleedingWhat separates haemorrhoids from something that needs a colonoscopy GI bleeding

04Right upper quadrant painBiliary colic, cholecystitis and cholangitis, by two questions Bile & gallbladder

05Left iliac fossa painDiverticulitis, and why interval endoscopy is not optional Acute abdomen

06Scrotal painA time-critical diagnosis, and seeing an adolescent alone Acute abdomen

07Groin swellingObstruction from a hernia the patient never mentioned Hernia

08Neck lumpThyroid status, and the features that raise concern Endocrine

09Leg ulcerVenous, arterial or neuropathic, from the history alone Lower limb

Each case opens that patient directly. The topic button takes you to the teaching that sits behind the case.

How to use it in teaching

Give a student one case before the ward round and ask them to present it afterwards from their own clerking. The debrief names the questions they missed, so the conversation starts from evidence rather than from an impression. Progress is saved in the student’s own browser, so nothing needs to be set up.

Coming to this page

An MCQ bank for surgical finals, single best answer, with explanations
More case trainers for the acute abdomen, trauma, breast and thyroid

Browse by topic instead

Every case belongs to a topic, and each topic page carries the teaching behind it.

8 topics

Jaundice & liver testsWhy a patient turns yellow, how to tell the three types apart at the bedside, and how to read the liver function tests that follow.7 guides · 1 calculator · 2 cases Bile & the gallbladderThe enterohepatic circulation in ten steps, what bile actually does to a fat meal, and what happens when the circuit is broken.3 guides · 1 case · book Part 1 The acute abdomenThe commonest reason a student is sent to clerk a patient. Where the pain started, where it went, and what that movement tells you.3 cases to clerk Gastrointestinal bleedingBlood from the top and blood from the bottom: what to ask, which drug history matters, and what must not be called haemorrhoids.2 cases to clerk Hernia & the groinA lump in the groin, and the three questions that decide whether it can wait until the morning or needs a surgeon tonight.1 case to clerk Calcium & the parathyroidFour glands defending one number, the hypercalcaemic patient, the parathyroid operation, and the tingling fingers the morning after a thyroidectomy.5 guides · 1 calculator · book Endocrine & bariatric surgeryThe thyroid, the parathyroids and the metabolic patient — the operations this unit does most, and the histories behind them.1 case · 1 peer-reviewed chapter Wounds & the lower limbVenous, arterial or neuropathic. Three ulcers that look similar on a ward round and are told apart almost entirely by the history.1 case to clerk

Where to go next.

SimulatorStart a case nowNine surgical patients to clerk from the referral stem.ToolsThe calculatorsIV fluids, corrected calcium and the R-factor.GuideHow to take the historyThe structure the simulator marks you against.SeriesAll the guidesWhat is published and what is coming.