PEBC Clinical Assessment Methods 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which component of a comprehensive pain assessment is best captured by the 'Q' in the OPQRSTU mnemonic?
- Quantity of pain episodes per day
- Quality of pain (e.g., burning, stabbing) (Correct answer)
- Quickness of onset
- Questions the patient has about pain
Correct answer: Quality of pain (e.g., burning, stabbing)
'Q' in OPQRSTU stands for Quality, describing the character of pain such as burning, aching, or stabbing.
Question 2: A pharmacist uses the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8). A score of 6 out of 8 indicates:
- High adherence
- Medium adherence (Correct answer)
- Low adherence
- Non-adherence requiring hospitalization
Correct answer: Medium adherence
MMAS-8 scores of 6–7 indicate medium adherence; scores of 8 indicate high adherence, and below 6 indicate low adherence.
Question 3: When assessing a patient for potential opioid misuse, which validated screening tool is most commonly recommended?
- AUDIT
- CAGE-AID
- ORT (Opioid Risk Tool) (Correct answer)
- PHQ-4
Correct answer: ORT (Opioid Risk Tool)
The Opioid Risk Tool (ORT) is specifically validated to stratify patients' risk of opioid misuse before initiating opioid therapy.
Question 4: A patient's eGFR is reported as 28 mL/min/1.73m². According to KDIGO staging, this patient has:
- CKD Stage 2
- CKD Stage 3b
- CKD Stage 4 (Correct answer)
- CKD Stage 5
Correct answer: CKD Stage 4
KDIGO Stage 4 CKD corresponds to an eGFR of 15–29 mL/min/1.73m², indicating severely decreased kidney function.
Question 5: During auscultation training, a pharmacy student hears a high-pitched wheeze over the lung bases bilaterally. This finding is most consistent with:
- Pneumonia consolidation
- Bronchospasm from asthma or COPD (Correct answer)
- Pleural effusion
- Normal breath sounds
Correct answer: Bronchospasm from asthma or COPD
Bilateral expiratory wheezes indicate airway narrowing from bronchospasm, characteristic of asthma or COPD exacerbation.
Question 6: The HEADSSS assessment framework is primarily used when assessing which patient population?
- Elderly patients with polypharmacy
- Adolescents in a psychosocial context (Correct answer)
- Pregnant women in antenatal care
- Post-surgical patients for pain management
Correct answer: Adolescents in a psychosocial context
HEADSSS (Home, Education, Activities, Drugs, Sexuality, Suicide/Safety) is a structured psychosocial assessment tool for adolescents.
Question 7: A pharmacist calculates a patient's BMI as 32.5 kg/m². According to Health Canada classification, this is categorized as:
- Normal weight
- Overweight
- Obese Class I (Correct answer)
- Obese Class II
Correct answer: Obese Class I
A BMI of 30–34.9 kg/m² is classified as Obese Class I, associated with increased health risk.
PEBC Clinical Assessment Methods 3
Which component of a comprehensive pain assessment is best captured by the 'Q' in the OPQRSTU mnemonic?