PEBC PEBC Pharmacy Practice Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A patient brings in a prescription written in a province other than where they are currently located. Which statement is TRUE in most Canadian provinces?
- The prescription cannot be filled under any circumstances
- The pharmacist has discretion to fill it if they can verify authenticity and it meets local requirements (Correct answer)
- Only the prescriber's home province pharmacist can fill it
- The pharmacist must contact the PEBC for approval
Correct answer: The pharmacist has discretion to fill it if they can verify authenticity and it meets local requirements
Most Canadian provinces allow a pharmacist to fill out-of-province prescriptions at their professional discretion, provided the prescription can be verified and meets local regulatory requirements.
Question 2: Which of the following is a key component of a pharmacy's quality assurance (QA) program?
- Increasing prescription volume targets
- Regular medication error reporting, root cause analysis, and process improvement (Correct answer)
- Limiting staff training to reduce costs
- Avoiding near-miss documentation to prevent liability
Correct answer: Regular medication error reporting, root cause analysis, and process improvement
A robust QA program includes systematic error reporting, root cause analysis, and continuous process improvement to enhance patient safety.
Question 3: A pharmacist suspects a colleague is impaired while on duty. What is the appropriate professional response?
- Ignore the situation to maintain workplace harmony
- Report the concern to the pharmacy manager and/or regulatory authority following established protocols (Correct answer)
- Cover the colleague's shift without informing anyone
- Document the incident privately but take no further action
Correct answer: Report the concern to the pharmacy manager and/or regulatory authority following established protocols
Professional obligations require reporting suspected impairment to the pharmacy manager and regulatory authority to protect patient safety.
Question 4: Under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), a pharmacy must obtain patient consent before:
- Dispensing a prescription to the patient
- Sharing patient health information with a third party for marketing purposes (Correct answer)
- Storing patient records electronically
- Filling a refill authorized by the prescriber
Correct answer: Sharing patient health information with a third party for marketing purposes
PIPEDA requires explicit patient consent before sharing personal health information with third parties for non-treatment purposes such as marketing.
Question 5: Which pharmacy management strategy best reduces the risk of look-alike/sound-alike (LASA) drug errors?
- Storing LASA drugs alphabetically together
- Using tall-man lettering and physical separation of LASA drugs in storage (Correct answer)
- Dispensing LASA drugs without extra labelling
- Training only senior pharmacists on LASA risks
Correct answer: Using tall-man lettering and physical separation of LASA drugs in storage
Tall-man lettering highlights distinguishing characters (e.g., hydrOXYzine vs. hydrALAzine) and physical separation reduces confusion between LASA drugs.
Question 6: What is the purpose of a Medication Use Evaluation (MUE) program in a hospital pharmacy?
- To set prescription pricing
- To assess appropriateness, safety, and effectiveness of drug use within the institution (Correct answer)
- To train pharmacy technicians on software
- To manage pharmacy staffing schedules
Correct answer: To assess appropriateness, safety, and effectiveness of drug use within the institution
An MUE program systematically evaluates whether drug therapy in an institution meets established criteria for appropriate, safe, and effective use.
PEBC PEBC Pharmacy Practice Management 2
A patient brings in a prescription written in a province other than where they are currently located.
Which statement is TRUE in most Canadian provinces?