Table 1.

 Communication scenarios

Day 1	Station 8	Station 18
Day 1	Explain to a rather obstinate, elderly, middle class white woman that her chest x ray film showed a possible lung metastasis. Bronchoscopy had been recommended. She denied that the cancer may have returned and just wanted antibiotics for her cough	Take a sexual history from a young Muslim student who had had unprotected casual sex at a party. She was concerned she might have caught something. She felt very upset about this accidental break with her cultural tradition and loss of her virginity
Day 2	Assess a Chinese businessman who has come for the results of liver function tests. These indicate he may be drinking too much (this role player was asked to present himself as not entirely fluent in English)	Negotiate with a young Afro-Caribbean man who wants a methadone prescription because he says he has lost the one given to him at the drug rehabilitation centre