It is a common question to ask yourself it it normal that your step 3 case will end early. The answer to this question is as you suspected, yes and no. There are 2 different ways that will cause a Step 3 Case to end early. The first is that you do the correct treatment or order the correct diagnostic study. This will cause the Step 3 Case to end early. This is something that you should not worry about. Just be sure to order all of the preventive medicine treatments in the final 2 minutes when a case ends early.
The other reason a Step 3 case will end early is if you do the wrong thing or let the simulated time pass without ordering the correct diagnostic tests or the correct treatment. This would be a bad thing as you would be penalized for not treating the patient effectively. An example of this is where you have an emergency patient in the ER and the patient has a tension pneumothorax. If the correct intervention is not done and a chest tube is not placed, then the patient will die. This will prematurely end the case.
A great way to practice getting used to Step 3 cases ending early is to download our software for PC and Mac and try our cases out. This will help you get the hang of when Step 3 cases will end early due to doing the correct treatment versus doing the incorrect treatment and having it end early. This is easily deciphered by the grading section given to you at the end of each case completed. It will tell you if you did the correct tests and procedures and which ones were missed. Click here to download and get started today.