The candidate card
Setting
Home oxygen assessment clinic
Candidate
You are a respiratory nurse in this original independent practice scenario, seeing Mr Elmer Vergara, aged 64, for a safety review after prescribed home oxygen was installed last week; he is currently comfortable, and no change to his prescribed oxygen settings or schedule has been authorised. He does not smoke, but wants visitors to smoke in another room; oxygen makes fires start more easily and burn more fiercely, so visitors must smoke outside, away from him and the equipment, rather than anywhere inside his home. Turning down or stopping prescribed oxygen to accommodate smoking is not a safe solution, and the oxygen team is available today to review any difficulty making the home safe before he leaves the clinic. Agree a smoke-free indoor plan, offer a home fire-safety assessment and check working smoke alarms; unresolved smoking risk requires prompt oxygen-team review, while a fire requires getting to safety and calling emergency services, and a complete ongoing assessment may continue after this focused conversation.
Task (interlocutor: patient)
- Explore Mr Vergara's proposed arrangements for visitors and whether smoking has already occurred indoors since oxygen was installed
- Explain why smoking in another room or reducing oxygen does not provide a safe solution
- Respond to his concerns about visitors and help him identify a workable smoke-free indoor arrangement
- Agree the home plan and any oxygen-team review needed today, including fire-safety support; check his 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.
You are a respiratory nurse in this original independent practice scenario, seeing Mr Elmer Vergara, aged 64, for a safety review after prescribed home oxygen was installed last week; he is currently comfortable, and no change to his prescribed oxygen settings or schedule has been authorised. He does not smoke, but wants visitors to smoke in another room; oxygen makes fires start more easily and burn more fiercely, so visitors must smoke outside, away from him and the equipment, rather than anywhere inside his home. Turning down or stopping prescribed oxygen to accommodate smoking is not a safe solution, and the oxygen team is available today to review any difficulty making the home safe before he leaves the clinic. Agree a smoke-free indoor plan, offer a home fire-safety assessment and check working smoke alarms; unresolved smoking risk requires prompt oxygen-team review, while a fire requires getting to safety and calling emergency services, and a complete ongoing assessment may continue after this focused conversation.
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
- Ask him to describe a typical visit and where he expects smoking to happen, then establish whether anyone has already smoked indoors since installation. Explore any likely difficulty setting boundaries with visitors without assuming he is unwilling to protect himself.
- Explain the hazard before negotiating arrangements: oxygen makes fires start more easily and burn more fiercely. Another room does not make indoor smoking acceptable; visitors need to smoke outside, away from him and the equipment.
- Explore a visitor arrangement he could realistically maintain, including how he would communicate it. Keep prescribed oxygen separate from that negotiation: no change to its settings or schedule is authorised, and reducing or stopping it cannot accommodate smoking safely.
- Before closing, establish whether the indoor smoking risk is resolved. If it remains unresolved, involve the oxygen team today before he leaves; offer a home fire-safety assessment and check whether his smoke alarms are working.
- Use teach-back to test the agreed visitor rule and oxygen arrangements, then invite questions. Give the fire response together: get everyone to safety, stay outside, call local emergency services, and do not return inside or try to fight the fire.
Phrases to adapt
Use your own words; these show the register, not lines to memorise.
- It may feel awkward to set rules for guests.
- How confident do you feel about saying this to visitors?
- Let us make the next visit easier to manage.
- Is there someone you would like involved in this discussion?
Medical words in plain English
| Term | How you might say it to the patient |
|---|---|
| prescribed oxygen settings | the oxygen level your treating team has instructed you to use |
| oxygen schedule | when your treating team has instructed you to use oxygen |
| home fire-safety assessment | a check of fire risks and safety arrangements in your home |
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
What if he asks for an exact safe distance for visitors smoking outdoors?
The card gives no distance, so do not invent one. Ask the oxygen team to clarify a suitable outdoor arrangement for his circumstances. Avoid treating an unsupported measurement as a guarantee that the proposed arrangement is safe.
What if he reports that visitors have already smoked indoors?
Treat this as information needed for today's safety review, without blame. Ask what happened and whether the same arrangement is likely to recur. Do not invent an exposure history, assume an injury, or conclude that an uneventful visit proves the arrangement was safe.
What if he asks whether home oxygen means he can no longer have visitors?
Avoid turning a restriction on smoking into a restriction on company. The card does not prohibit visits. Explore whether his concern is about maintaining social contact, and help him distinguish having visitors from permitting the activity that creates the identified risk.
Sources
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