The question types

Now to the practical part: recognising the question type and choosing a structure for your answer.

I group StAMPS questions into seven main types, and I will walk you through each one:

• GP and low-acuity emergency department questions – These commonly focus on assessment, management or both.
• Assessment - A targeted history and examination usually form the foundation of your approach.
• Management – creating a holistic management plan for the patient
• Emergency questions – These require an immediate, structured A–E approach.
• Trauma questions – These focus on assessing and managing an injured patient.
• Population health and infectious disease questions – These require you to consider the wider community as well as the individual patient.
• Leadership and problem-solving questions – These explore how you respond to challenges involving teams, services or systems.
• Medicolegal questions + curve ball questions – These focus on your professional, ethical and legal responsibilities.
• Procedure questions – These ask you to describe how you would prepare for and perform a procedure, including aftercare.

When you hear a question, first identify what it is asking you to do, then choose the relevant structure. GP and low-acuity emergency department questions are particularly common, so we will spend time on both assessment and management answers.

In the following tutorials, I will explain how I structured my answers for each question type. I was taught these approaches from one of my mentors who is excellent at StAMPS. There is no single perfect approach. As you practise, you will develop your own style and learn useful phrases and approaches.

Use these structures as a starting point, then adapt them to suit the way you speak. The aim is to give clear, organised answers while remaining responsive to the specific question and clinical context.