Palestinian Board Part II study plan
Palestinian Board Part II · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Basic and clinical sciences applied to the specialty & Management and treatment planning
Map every high-yield basic-science mechanism (pathophysiology, pharmacology, anatomy) to a clinical decision you would actually make in your specialty
Draft a one-page decision algorithm for the three conditions you most often manage, citing the underlying science for each step
Build a spaced-repetition deck of 120 basic-science facts tagged by the clinical scenario in which each matters
Write out five treatment plans from scratch and annotate each drug choice with its mechanism, contraindication, and monitoring parameter
Your checkpoint
A 10-page personal synthesis document linking basic-science mechanisms to treatment decisions, plus a 120-card tagged deck
Management and treatment planning & Clinical assessment, diagnosis, and differential diagnosis
Construct tiered management plans (first-line, escalation, failure) for the ten highest-frequency presentations in your specialty
Compare your plans against current guideline recommendations and log every discrepancy with a reason
Practice formulating a prioritized differential diagnosis for 20 vignettes under a three-minute time limit
Identify the five history or examination findings that most change your management and justify each
Your checkpoint
A comparison table of your 10 management plans versus guideline recommendations, with all discrepancies resolved or flagged
Clinical assessment, diagnosis, and differential diagnosis & Clinical procedures and technical skills
Describe the indications, contraindications, step-by-step technique, and complication management for every core procedure in your specialty log
Rehearse each core procedure verbally as if teaching a junior colleague, recording yourself and noting gaps
Interpret 30 diagnostic studies (imaging, labs, tracings) and write the finding, its meaning, and the next step for each
List the decision points where a diagnostic uncertainty should trigger a procedure or a specialist referral
Your checkpoint
A procedure manual you wrote yourself: 8-12 core procedures each with technique, pitfalls, and complication management
Basic and clinical sciences applied to the specialty & Emergency, acute, and critical care situations
Drill the resuscitation algorithm for each life-threatening emergency in your specialty until you can recite it without notes
Write a one-page crisis checklist for the five emergencies you are most likely to face and rehearse each aloud twice
Re-derive the physiology behind each emergency intervention so you can explain why the algorithm works
Identify the three most common errors in emergency management of your specialty and state the countermeasure for each
Your checkpoint
A set of five one-page emergency checklists, each rehearsed aloud and timed at least twice
Management and treatment planning & Patient safety, quality improvement, and infection control
Redesign your top three management plans to embed patient-safety controls: verification steps, handover content, and failure-mode mitigations
Apply an infection-control framework to a procedure you perform and list every breach point in the workflow
Write a quality-improvement aim statement with a measure, a baseline, and a change idea for a real gap you have observed
Analyze two adverse events using a structured root-cause approach and propose system-level fixes rather than individual blame
Your checkpoint
A one-page quality-improvement proposal with aim statement, measure, baseline, and intervention, plus a safety-annotated version of one management plan
Professionalism, ethics, and communication & Research methods, evidence-based practice, and biostatistics
Script and rehearse three difficult conversations: breaking bad news, disclosing an error, and handling a refusal of treatment
State the ethical principle and the professional obligation at stake in ten consent, capacity, and confidentiality scenarios
Appraise four primary studies relevant to your specialty using a structured critical-appraisal checklist
Interpret the common biostatistical outputs (confidence intervals, p-values, number needed to treat, sensitivity/specificity, likelihood ratios) and apply them to three clinical questions
Your checkpoint
A critical-appraisal portfolio of four studies with a one-paragraph verdict each, plus a written script for the three difficult conversations
Health systems, public health, and resource stewardship & Patient safety, quality improvement, and infection control
Analyze how referral pathways, waiting times, and resource limits in your setting change the management options you can realistically offer
Design a cost-conscious alternative for one high-cost workup you commonly order, with the evidence for its safety
Map the public-health and preventive obligations attached to your specialty and identify the ones you currently under-deliver
Identify three stewardship targets (tests, drugs, or admissions) and state the measurable reduction you would aim for
Your checkpoint
A resource-stewardship brief covering three targets with baseline, proposed reduction, and safety safeguard for each
Basic and clinical sciences applied to the specialty & Clinical assessment, diagnosis, and differential diagnosis & Management and treatment planning & Clinical procedures and technical skills & Emergency, acute, and critical care situations & Patient safety, quality improvement, and infection control & Professionalism, ethics, and communication & Research methods, evidence-based practice, and biostatistics & Health systems, public health, and resource stewardship
Sit two full-length timed mock examinations and score them by domain to expose residual weak areas
Revisit every item you answered incorrectly and write the correct reasoning in your own words
Rehearse your emergency checklists and procedure descriptions one final time under time pressure
Consolidate all prior deliverables into a single indexed revision file organized by domain
Your checkpoint
Two scored mock examinations with a written error log, plus a single indexed revision file covering all nine domains
Milestones
Week 2: You can produce a tiered management plan for any of the ten highest-frequency presentations in under five minutes without notes
Week 4: You can recite every specialty emergency algorithm and procedure sequence unaided, and your five crisis checklists are written and rehearsed
Week 6: Your critical-appraisal portfolio and difficult-conversation scripts are complete and you can justify each conclusion aloud
Week 8: Both mock examinations are scored above your target pass margin with no single domain below 60 percent