The candidate card
Setting
Sexual health clinic
Candidate
In this original independent practice scenario, you are a sexual health nurse speaking privately with Ms Michaele Cormier, aged 47, after the clinician has explained her positive genital chlamydia result and assessed her as having uncomplicated infection; pregnancy has been excluded and she remains symptom-free. Her documented plan is to complete the supplied seven-day doxycycline course exactly as labelled, avoid vaginal, anal and oral sex until she has completed treatment, symptoms have resolved and partners have been tested and treated if necessary, and return for a self-collected vaginal swab at three months to look for reinfection rather than immediate proof of cure; she has not started the tablets yet. The clinician has already explained this plan and symptom safety advice, provided written instructions and checked her understanding, so briefly relate the plan to her concerns without repeating detailed counselling or taking a detailed sexual history. A health adviser is available before she leaves to discuss safe partner notification, including contacting partners without naming her, although a partner may infer her identity.
Task (interlocutor: patient)
- Explore Ms Cormier's main worry about who might learn about her result.
- Reassure her without judgement and explain confidentiality briefly, including that family or her GP are not routinely informed without permission and that limited legal or serious safety-related exceptions apply.
- Briefly explain her documented treatment and follow-up plan, linking partner testing and treatment to preventing reinfection and clarifying the purpose of the three-month test in relation to her concerns.
- Explore whether contacting partners would feel safe and explain the clinic's supported notification option, including its privacy limits and the need for partners to have testing and treatment if indicated.
- Agree a next step with the health adviser and a safe way for the clinic to contact her, then check her understanding and invite questions.
In the test you get 3 minutes to read the card and plan, then about 5 minutes to talk. This card is original, written for this site; the interlocutor's card is not shown.
Prepare this card, then say it out loud.
Plan your opening and the tasks below. Keep these notes when you move to the AI role-play.
In this original independent practice scenario, you are a sexual health nurse speaking privately with Ms Michaele Cormier, aged 47, after the clinician has explained her positive genital chlamydia result and assessed her as having uncomplicated infection; pregnancy has been excluded and she remains symptom-free. Her documented plan is to complete the supplied seven-day doxycycline course exactly as labelled, avoid vaginal, anal and oral sex until she has completed treatment, symptoms have resolved and partners have been tested and treated if necessary, and return for a self-collected vaginal swab at three months to look for reinfection rather than immediate proof of cure; she has not started the tablets yet. The clinician has already explained this plan and symptom safety advice, provided written instructions and checked her understanding, so briefly relate the plan to her concerns without repeating detailed counselling or taking a detailed sexual history. A health adviser is available before she leaves to discuss safe partner notification, including contacting partners without naming her, although a partner may infer her identity.
Getting your plan ready…
Preparation is free without an account. AI conversation and marking need sign-in; your first role-play is free. Notes are saved on this device when available. This checklist is your plan, not a score.
How to approach this card
- Start with her main concern about disclosure and acknowledge her embarrassment. Briefly explain the documented plan in relation to her concerns: complete the supplied seven-day doxycycline course exactly as labelled, follow the temporary sexual abstinence advice and return for the three-month reinfection test. Link partner testing and treatment to preventing reinfection, without repeating the detailed counselling already completed.
- Explain confidentiality in direct, reassuring language: family or her GP are not routinely informed without permission, although limited legal or serious safety-related exceptions apply. Avoid absolute promises.
- Invite her to explain what feels difficult about telling partners and ask whether direct contact would feel safe. Allow her answer to guide the discussion rather than requesting a detailed sexual history.
- Explain that partners need testing and treatment if indicated, and that the clinic can help notify them without naming her. Acknowledge that a partner may still infer her identity and avoid promising a particular reaction.
- Agree access to the health adviser before she leaves and confirm a safe contact method. Check that she understands the agreed next step, invite questions and avoid making immediate partner contact a condition of support.
Phrases to adapt
Use your own words; these show the register, not lines to memorise.
- You can tell me which concern feels most pressing.
- We can pause before discussing anyone else's details.
- Would you prefer me to explain that another way?
- What would help you feel comfortable asking questions?
Medical words in plain English
| Term | How you might say it to the patient |
|---|---|
| chlamydia | A sexually transmitted infection. |
| reinfection | Getting the infection again. |
| self-collected vaginal swab | A sample you take yourself from your vagina using a swab. |
How this card is marked
Two assessors mark the recording on nine criteria: intelligibility, fluency, appropriateness of language and resources of grammar and expression (each 0–6), then relationship building, understanding and incorporating the patient's perspective, providing structure, information gathering and information giving (each 0–3). See the AI Speaking practice guide for what each criterion looks for.
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Next step for Australian nursing: if your pathway requires OBA after OET and NCLEX-RN, explore OSCE practice for Australian nurses at OSCE Australia, run by the same company as OETAce.
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Questions about this role-play
How do I explain the repeat test without suggesting treatment has failed?
Briefly explain that the candidate card documents a self-collected vaginal swab at three months to look for reinfection, rather than an immediate test to prove cure. Relate this to her concerns by explaining that partner testing and treatment help prevent reinfection without implying blame. This short explanation is required; repeating the detailed counselling already completed is unnecessary.
Can I promise that a partner will never work out who contacted the clinic?
No. The clinic offers confidential partner-notification support without naming her, but a partner may infer her identity. Describe both points clearly so she can consider the offer with realistic expectations, rather than relying on a guarantee the service cannot provide.
What if she says she has no symptoms and questions the positive result?
Explain that chlamydia often causes no symptoms, so feeling well does not contradict the result described on this card. Avoid using the result to speculate about when infection occurred or who transmitted it; those details have not been supplied.
Sources
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