Patient Safety Protocols Flashcards
7 cards from real PEBC practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Patient Safety Protocols flashcards as text
Which statement best describes the concept of 'medication reconciliation' as a patient safety practice?
Answer: Comparing a patient's current medication orders to all prior medication lists to identify discrepancies
Medication reconciliation involves systematically comparing medication lists at care transitions to identify and resolve omissions, duplications, and errors.
A patient on lithium therapy presents with tremors, nausea, and confusion. Serum lithium is 1.8 mmol/L. What is the pharmacist's role?
Answer: Recognize signs of lithium toxicity and urgently refer to the prescriber or emergency services
Lithium levels above 1.5 mmol/L with neurotoxic symptoms constitute toxicity requiring urgent medical evaluation.
Which practice MOST reduces the risk of a wrong-drug error when filling a prescription manually?
Answer: Separating look-alike products and using auxiliary labels to highlight differences
Physically separating look-alike products and adding auxiliary labels disrupts the visual pattern that leads to wrong-drug selection.
Under ISMP Canada guidelines, which abbreviation is on the 'Do Not Use' list because it has caused fatal errors?
Answer: U (for units)
The abbreviation 'U' for units has been misread as '0,' '4,' or '4u,' causing ten-fold dosing errors with insulin and other medications.
A pharmacist is counselling a patient newly prescribed an ACE inhibitor. Which adverse effect requires immediate safety counselling regarding when to seek emergency care?
Answer: Angioedema of the lips, tongue, or throat
Angioedema is a rare but life-threatening ACE inhibitor adverse effect that can cause airway obstruction and requires immediate emergency care.
What does the Swiss Cheese Model of accident causation illustrate in the context of pharmacy safety?
Answer: That multiple layers of defenses each have weaknesses, and errors occur when holes align
The Swiss Cheese Model shows that harm occurs only when the gaps (holes) in multiple independent safety barriers align simultaneously, emphasizing layered defenses.
A pharmacist discovers a dispensing error after the patient has already taken the medication. What is the correct order of actions?
Answer: Assess patient harm immediately, inform the patient, contact the prescriber, and document/report per protocol
Patient safety requires immediate harm assessment and honest disclosure to the patient, followed by prescriber notification and formal incident documentation.