90 questions · 120 min · 65% to pass
Question 1
What defines a medication error per NCC MERP?
Answer: Any preventable medication event
Question 2
Which pair of medications is a classic ISMP-listed sound-alike pair that has caused patient harm due to name confusion?
Answer: Hydroxyzine (antihistamine/anxiolytic) and hydralazine (antihypertensive) are a classic ISMP LASA pair; confusing them can lead to accidental sedation or dangerous blood pressure drops in patients.
Question 3
What type of risk tool is a Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)?
Answer: Prospective/proactive risk assessment
Question 4
Why is concentrated potassium chloride (KCl) considered a high-alert medication, and what storage precaution does ISMP mandate?
Answer: Concentrated KCl can cause fatal cardiac arrest if administered by IV push undiluted; ISMP mandates that concentrated KCl vials be removed from general patient care unit floor stock and stored only in the pharmacy.
Question 5
Which organization operates the MedWatch program?
Answer: FDA
Question 6
Why do most healthcare safety experts advocate for non-punitive error reporting cultures in pharmacies?
Answer: Non-punitive cultures encourage staff to report errors and near-misses without fear of punishment, generating the data needed to identify systemic problems and implement safety improvements — punitive cultures suppress reporting and allow dangerous patterns to persist undetected.
Question 7
What is the purpose of a pharmacy's Policy and Procedure (P&P) manual, and who is ultimately responsible for its maintenance?
Answer: The P&P manual documents standardized workflows, legal requirements, and safety protocols for all pharmacy operations; the pharmacist-in-charge (PIC) is ultimately responsible for ensuring it is current, accurate, and followed by all staff.
Question 8
What is the purpose of a root cause analysis (RCA) after a pharmacy error?
Answer: Identify system-level causes
Question 9
What is the purpose of barcode medication administration (BCMA) technology in inpatient pharmacy settings?
Answer: BCMA scans barcodes on both the patient's wristband and the medication at the bedside before administration, electronically verifying the five rights and alerting nurses to mismatches — studies show it significantly reduces wrong-patient and wrong-drug errors.
Question 10
What is the ISMP Medication Errors Reporting Program (MERP), and how does it differ from FDA MedWatch?
Answer: ISMP MERP is a voluntary, confidential error reporting program where practitioners share actual or potential medication errors; unlike FDA MedWatch (which focuses on adverse events and product problems), MERP focuses specifically on system failures and error-prone practices to drive industry-wide safety improvements.