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Quiz about Basic Hospital Pharmacy Practice
Quiz about Basic Hospital Pharmacy Practice

Basic Hospital Pharmacy Practice Quiz


Follow me on my shift as a pharmacy technician at a large U.S. hospital, and learn about the medications and pharmacy processes being used to help the patients on each floor.

A multiple-choice quiz by celicadriver. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
celicadriver
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
283,393
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
4001
Awards
Top 10% Quiz
Question 1 of 10
1. We begin our tour in the central pharmacy, where pharmacists, interns, and technicians are hard at work, preparing drugs for their safe and accurate delivery to the nursing floors. Some of these workers may be repackaging medications into unit doses. What is a unit dose drug? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Before we go upstairs to the medication rooms, let's "tube" some meds. Many hospitals use a pneumatic tube system (like you might see at your local bank drive-through) to send medications, paperwork and lab specimens from one floor to another. We are looking at some drugs that are ready for delivery, but which one is NOT safe to tube? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Now that we're finally out of the basement, let's stock the ADM (the automated dispensing machine) in the Emergency Department's medication room. What is an advantage of having an ADM? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Let us move on to an intensive care floor. Did you remember to bring the TPNs? Good. What does TPN stand for in pharmacy-speak? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Next we will proceed to the respiratory intensive care unit. We need to deliver one the drugs we have with us. Which one of these is the respiratory inhalation solution? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Next stop on the tour: the cardiac specialty floor, where the patients are receiving care for their heart problems. A nurse tells us that she can't find her patient's dose of extended-release metoprolol. We tell her that we will have it sent right away. What should we ask the pharmacy to send up? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Let's stop by and say hello to our friends in the satellite pharmacy outside the operating suites. Which of the following drugs would you be LEAST likely to see on the shelves here? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Yes, I know it is a lot of walking. I know you can make it - the tour is almost over. We are now making our rounds of the newborn intensive care unit. We notice a vial of poractant alfa sitting unattended out on the counter. What should we do? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Ahhhhh... We have finally returned to the central pharmacy, and are almost ready to go home. Before we can go, we have to return to stock the unused medications that we collected while we were up on the floor. Where should we put this unopened tube of nystatin cream? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Oops! We are just on our way out the door for some well-deserved R&R when another technician stops us and asks if we know where the ketamine is stored. What do we tell her? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. We begin our tour in the central pharmacy, where pharmacists, interns, and technicians are hard at work, preparing drugs for their safe and accurate delivery to the nursing floors. Some of these workers may be repackaging medications into unit doses. What is a unit dose drug?

Answer: A single "serving" of a drug, e.g., a tablet or a teaspoon-sized dose of an oral liquid

Dispensing a single dose of a drug for a specific patient is one of many methods that hospital pharmacies use to prevent medication errors. Having bulk containers of medication on the nursing floor could lead to overdoses, or to the nurse selecting the wrong container. Each unit dose should be clearly labelled with the name of the drug, its strength (e.g., number of milligrams), its form (e.g., tablet or oral suspension), manufacturer, lot number, and expiration date.
2. Before we go upstairs to the medication rooms, let's "tube" some meds. Many hospitals use a pneumatic tube system (like you might see at your local bank drive-through) to send medications, paperwork and lab specimens from one floor to another. We are looking at some drugs that are ready for delivery, but which one is NOT safe to tube?

Answer: The vial of epoetin alfa

Epoetin alfa (marketed under the brand names Epogen and Procrit) stimulates red blood cell production in the body. Like other colony-stimulating factors, it should not be sent through a pneumatic tube system, as its potency may be affected. Epoetin alfa should be stored in the refrigerator.
3. Now that we're finally out of the basement, let's stock the ADM (the automated dispensing machine) in the Emergency Department's medication room. What is an advantage of having an ADM?

Answer: All of these are advantages

The ADM is just one of a multitude of ways in which technology benefits health care and pharmacy. Many hospital pharmacies have robots that use a barcode system to "pick" the right medications for the hospital's inpatients.
4. Let us move on to an intensive care floor. Did you remember to bring the TPNs? Good. What does TPN stand for in pharmacy-speak?

Answer: Total Parenteral Nutrition

Total Parenteral Nutrition provides the body's nutritional needs to patients whose digestive systems cannot process food. Hospital pharmacies prepare specialized, patient-specific mixtures of fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals for intravenous infusion - the nutrients go directly into the bloodstream. ("Parenteral" means "beyond the intestines.")
5. Next we will proceed to the respiratory intensive care unit. We need to deliver one the drugs we have with us. Which one of these is the respiratory inhalation solution?

Answer: Ipratropium bromide

Ipratropium is a bronchodilator (it opens the airway to help the patient breathe).
6. Next stop on the tour: the cardiac specialty floor, where the patients are receiving care for their heart problems. A nurse tells us that she can't find her patient's dose of extended-release metoprolol. We tell her that we will have it sent right away. What should we ask the pharmacy to send up?

Answer: Metoprolol succinate

In the case of metoprolol (a beta-blocker used mainly to treat high blood pressure), the drug's salt determines whether it is immediate-release or extended-release. (A drug's "salt" is the funny chemical name you often see after the drug's name. Some examples of salts are chloride, calcium, axetil, bitartrate, sodium, and many, many others.)

The metoprolol injection could not have been extended-release, because injection is basically the fastest method of getting a drug into the bloodstream. Metoprolol succinate (brand name: Toprol XL) is the extended-release version, and metoprolol tartrate (brand name: Lopressor) is immediate-release.
7. Let's stop by and say hello to our friends in the satellite pharmacy outside the operating suites. Which of the following drugs would you be LEAST likely to see on the shelves here?

Answer: Senna liquid

Senna is a natural laxative (always given orally), and therefore very unlikely to be administered during surgery. The other drugs are all used regularly in the operating room.
8. Yes, I know it is a lot of walking. I know you can make it - the tour is almost over. We are now making our rounds of the newborn intensive care unit. We notice a vial of poractant alfa sitting unattended out on the counter. What should we do?

Answer: Return it to the pharmacy for proper disposal

Poractant alfa (brand name: Curosurf) is used to treat RDS (Respiratory Distress Syndrome) in infants. It should be stored in the refrigerator. Since we have no way of knowing for sure how long it was out of the fridge, we have to assume for safety's sake that its integrity has been compromised, and it should be disposed of.

It is also a good idea to make sure that there is still enough Curosurf in the fridge, should it be needed later.
9. Ahhhhh... We have finally returned to the central pharmacy, and are almost ready to go home. Before we can go, we have to return to stock the unused medications that we collected while we were up on the floor. Where should we put this unopened tube of nystatin cream?

Answer: With the topical medications

Since it is a topical cream, it should go with the topical medications (drugs that are to be applied to the outside surface of the body and not in the eye). Nystatin is an antifungal drug that is available as a powder, an oral liquid, a cream, and it comes in other forms as well.
10. Oops! We are just on our way out the door for some well-deserved R&R when another technician stops us and asks if we know where the ketamine is stored. What do we tell her?

Answer: It is under lock and key with the other controlled substances

The federal government has designated a "control schedule" for certain medications with abuse potential. A rating of C-I means there is no accepted medical use for a drug, and it is (simply put) illegal. A rating of C-II means that the drug has a very high potential for abuse, and should be used with caution. The schedule continues through lessening degrees of abuse potential through C-V. Pharmacies and health care providers are responsible for maintaining complete and accurate records of every controlled substance they handle, from purchase to receipt to prescription to administration, waste, and expiration. Needless to say, controlled drugs should be stored in a secure manner.

Not all controlled substances are narcotics. A couple of examples are Valium (a benzodiazepine) and steroids like testosterone. While Ketamine is sometimes used in veterinary practice, it is also a C-III anesthetic used on humans.

Thank you for playing my first quiz. I hope you found it fun and interesting.
Source: Author celicadriver

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor crisw before going online.
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