RCA Medication Management Oversight 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which federal agency is primarily responsible for regulating prescription drug safety and approving new medications in the United States?
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
- Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (Correct answer)
- Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Correct answer: Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
The FDA is responsible for ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security of prescription drugs and approving new medications before they reach the market.
Question 2: A patient receives a double dose of a blood thinner due to a documentation error. Under medication error classification, this is considered a:
- Near miss
- Adverse drug event (Correct answer)
- Sentinel event
- Medication variance
Correct answer: Adverse drug event
An adverse drug event (ADE) is any harm caused to a patient resulting from a medication-related intervention, including errors like duplicate dosing.
Question 3: Which of the following is a core component of the 'Five Rights' of medication administration?
- Right facility
- Right prescriber
- Right route (Correct answer)
- Right insurance
Correct answer: Right route
The Five Rights of medication administration include right patient, right drug, right dose, right route, and right time.
Question 4: A medication reconciliation process is MOST critical at which point in patient care?
- During routine vital sign checks
- At care transitions such as admission, transfer, or discharge (Correct answer)
- When ordering new lab tests
- During dietary consultations
Correct answer: At care transitions such as admission, transfer, or discharge
Medication reconciliation at care transitions prevents errors caused by incomplete or inaccurate medication lists being carried across settings.
Question 5: Under DEA scheduling, which Schedule classification carries the highest potential for abuse with no accepted medical use?
- Schedule II
- Schedule III
- Schedule IV
- Schedule I (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Schedule I
Schedule I substances are defined as having a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use in the United States.
Question 6: What is the primary purpose of a Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) Committee in a healthcare organization?
- Processing insurance prior authorizations
- Managing the formulary and establishing medication use policies (Correct answer)
- Conducting patient discharge planning
- Setting medication copayment tiers
Correct answer: Managing the formulary and establishing medication use policies
The P&T Committee oversees the formulary, evaluates drug safety and efficacy, and creates policies governing medication use across the organization.
Question 7: Which strategy is MOST effective for reducing look-alike/sound-alike (LASA) medication errors at the point of dispensing?
- Storing LASA drugs alphabetically together
- Using tall man lettering and physical separation on shelves (Correct answer)
- Limiting pharmacist review to high-risk drugs only
- Relying solely on barcode scanning without visual checks
Correct answer: Using tall man lettering and physical separation on shelves
Tall man lettering (e.g., DOBUTamine vs. DOPamine) and physical separation of LASA drugs are evidence-based strategies to reduce dispensing errors.
RCA Medication Management Oversight 2
Which federal agency is primarily responsible for regulating prescription drug safety and approving new medications in the United States?