Revising for closed book- clinical questions???- pls help

[meaniebeanie]

congrats to all that passed the june exam and good luck to all those sitting september one as first time or resit. im doing september one as first sitting and i was wondering if anyone could recall the clinical type questions that came up in the june exam for the closed book paper. i heard it was quite difficult this year. what would be the best way to prepare yourself for these kind of surprise questions that are more hospital pharmacy orientated. thanks. god bless u all

[shan]

Get a good hold on Minor Ailments and OTC stuff. Give thorough look at MEP. Revise introduction to major drug classes and you are almost there. All the best.

Shan

[bambalec]

there was only one clinical q i can remember that was hospital orientated, and it gave a list of tests like ESR, PT etc and then you had to select from the answer choices what each test measures. But we should know this from our undergrad degrees

There was a series of q's on managing cystitis; the question was very subtle in that it tried to confuse you with vaginal discharge and marks could be lost if you weren't sure on the causes and management of each

spend time on the common OTC conditions, and differential diagnoses for each condition

If you are doing well on the specimen papers provided by the society, then you will be fine for the closed book. It took me half an hour and then I spent an hour pondering q's I felt needed double checking. Most of that time was on this stupid statement of you are a hospital pharmacist who has discovered a pt has been taking an overdose; you should tell them. True or false?! I still don't know! And I've done my pre reg in hospital

[sena168]

I dont think there were a lot of hospital pharmacy orientated questions, the paper was more community based.

But having said that, community pre-reg will prolly say it's more hospital based.

There was a question asking test results like which components can be used to identified inflammation/as inflammatory markers.
Another one was which of the following drug (cant remember which one now) will be of useful to monitor their serum drug level

[Rizzo]

The closed book paper was fine fairly similar to the sample papers. Things to know:

- Cautionary labels of common drugs in exam sulphasalazine (colours urine), tramadol (may cause drowsiness), M/R tablets swallowed whole not chewed etc

- drugs where serum conc needs to be monitored eg lithium

- OTC licensed indications eg in exam there was question on hydrocortisone and where it could be used answer was on the ear lobes.

- CD schedules and ethics MEP stuff like consent etc

- read symptoms in the pharmacy alot of the wording of the questions and description of conditions I found seemed to be lifted from there

- look at calc questions like double strength chloroform water/rose water it 1 in 40 etc there were couple of calcs in the closed book paper

- liver enzyme inducers and inhibitors

- general medical terms eg in exam asked what was name for blood in faeces

- Just know the main OTC conditions and the alarm signs when to refer and the time frame when to refer if a product is not giving any benefit

- POM to P changes like Orlistat

[Husnain87]

Yeh I done it in June, thy also asked hw lipid lowering drugs work, e.g- which drugs acts by binding to cholesterol in gut etc, the 2 answers I gt wer ezetimbe and cholestyramine.. Thy did ask alot of detail in June, was nothn like the sample papers, nothn came up on gout etc, migraines etc.

[little girl]

I thought that hydrocortisone cream cant be used on the neck or above!! Wasnt the answer the pregnant lady one?

[Rafael]

thought double strength to single is 1/20 and not 1/40?

[Husnain87]

Yeh double strength is 1/20.. I put the ear lobe one

[bambalec]

cant use HC in pregnant women without medical advice. The ear lobe answer had an indication for OTC HC. My reasoning was that the ear lobe isn't part of the face