Physician Assistant Flashcards
7 cards from real Physician Assistant practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Physician Assistant flashcards as text
A 25-year-old male athlete presents with sudden severe headache described as 'the worst headache of his life' after exertion. CT head is negative. What is the next most appropriate step?
Answer: Lumbar puncture
A thunderclap headache with a negative CT requires lumbar puncture to rule out subarachnoid hemorrhage, as CT misses up to 2% of cases in the first 6 hours.
Which of the following best describes the PA profession's scope of practice in the United States?
Answer: Defined by state law, clinical training, and institutional policy
PA scope of practice is determined by a combination of state law, the PA's education and experience, the supervising physician's delegation, and institutional policies.
A 58-year-old male presents with progressive difficulty swallowing solids, then liquids, and an 18 lb weight loss over 3 months. What is the most likely diagnosis?
Answer: Esophageal carcinoma
Progressive dysphagia starting with solids then progressing to liquids combined with significant weight loss in an older adult is the classic presentation of esophageal carcinoma.
A PA prescribes a medication that inhibits HMG-CoA reductase. A patient on this medication begins taking clarithromycin for an infection. What adverse effect is most concerning?
Answer: Rhabdomyolysis
Clarithromycin inhibits CYP3A4, increasing statin plasma levels and dramatically raising the risk of rhabdomyolysis when co-administered with statins metabolized by CYP3A4.
Which vaccine is contraindicated in a 26-year-old pregnant woman at 20 weeks gestation?
Answer: MMR vaccine
MMR is a live attenuated vaccine and is contraindicated during pregnancy due to theoretical risk of fetal infection; it should be given postpartum.
A 3-year-old is brought in with inspiratory stridor, a barking cough, and low-grade fever. Neck X-ray shows a 'steeple sign.' What is the most likely diagnosis?
Answer: Croup (laryngotracheobronchitis)
The steeple sign on anteroposterior neck X-ray reflects subglottic narrowing and, combined with barking cough and inspiratory stridor in a toddler, is diagnostic of croup.
A PA documents in a patient's chart that a procedure was performed, but it was actually done by a different provider. This constitutes which type of misconduct?
Answer: Falsification of medical records
Documenting a procedure as personally performed when it was not constitutes falsification of medical records, which is both an ethical violation and potentially illegal.