Clinical Pharmacy and Laboratory Data: MCQ Test

181. What is an important factor to consider when interpreting TDM results, in addition to serum drug concentration?

• Patient's favorite food
• Patient's political affiliation
• Patient's clinical situation (e.g., renal function, compliance, other drug therapy)
• The weather on the day of sampling

182. What does the 'volume of distribution for theophylline' help primarily in estimating?

• Continuous infusion rate
• Oral maintenance dose
• Intravenous loading dose
• Drug half-life

183. What is the ultimate goal of continuing professional development (CPD) for clinical pharmacists?

• To obtain higher salaries
• To maintain the competency to practice as a clinical pharmacist
• To attend social gatherings
• To solely focus on research

184. What is a common cause of a 'macrocytic' anemia?

• Iron deficiency
• Vitamin B12 or folate deficiency
• Acute blood loss
• Chronic kidney disease

185. What is the purpose of 'nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs)' in the diagnosis of infectious diseases?

• To grow bacteria in culture
• To detect antigens derived from parasites
• To rapidly identify bacteria and viruses (and occasionally resistance gene markers)
• To perform Gram staining

186. What is a common approach to wet preparations of specimens for fungi to allow better visualization?

• Using Gram stain
• Using a 10% solution of potassium hydroxide (KOH)
• Heating the specimen extensively
• Diluting with saline only

187. What is an important consideration when evaluating studies of Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) devices for lipids?

• The patient's age and gender
• That different sample types (e.g., capillary blood vs. venous whole blood) are often compared, leading to variability
• The time of day the test is performed
• The cost of the device

188. What are 'Cardiac troponins (cTnI or cTnT)' primarily used for in emergency departments?

• Monitoring blood pressure
• Evaluating patients with suspected Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS)
• Assessing liver function
• Diagnosing diabetes

189. What is the significance of the Cytochrome P450 Nomenclature Committee in pharmacogenetics?

• It regulates drug prices
• It defines the star (*) nomenclature for haplotypes, describing functioning forms of genes
• It develops new drug compounds
• It oversees clinical trial ethics

190. What is the primary objective of Drug Utilisation Evaluation (DUE) studies?

• To increase the sale of specific drugs
• To promote irrational drug use
• To identify drugs or therapeutic areas where improvement in use will result in the greatest clinical impact
• To publish theoretical research papers

191. What is the purpose of 'quality assurance (QA)' programmes in poison information services?

• To limit the scope of services provided
• To assess staff competency, accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and specificity of assays
• To increase the cost of services
• To reduce the number of queries received

192. What is a common approach to assessing a patient's understanding at the end of a patient counselling session?

• Immediately closing the session without further questions
• Asking feedback questions like 'Can you remember what this medication is for?'
• Providing only written information to avoid verbal interaction
• Assuming complete understanding

193. What is a characteristic of 'primary literature'?

• Summaries of published literature
• Original reports of research results and clinical experience
• Indexing and abstracting services
• Review articles reflecting authors' clinical perspectives

194. What is the role of an 'Ethics Committee' (EC) in clinical research during and after research takes place?

• To manage the finances of the research
• To market the research findings
• Summarise the roles and responsibilities of an Ethics Committee before, during and after research takes place
• To recruit participants

195. What is an important function of pharmacists in paediatric pharmacotherapy related to drug information?

• Developing and maintaining a library consisting of textbooks, handbooks, primary literature and electronic/internet sources
• Reducing the number of available drugs for children
• Encouraging off-label use without evidence
• Discouraging patient-specific data collection

196. What is the principle behind 'electrophoresis' as a laboratory technique?

• Detecting changes in electrical impedance
• Fragmenting and ionizing molecules based on mass to charge ratio
• Separating molecules (e.g., DNA, RNA, proteins) based on their charge and size in an electric field
• Measuring light absorption through a sample

197. What is the purpose of 'supplemental broth media' (e.g., trypticase soy broth, thioglycollate broth) in bacterial culture?

• To inhibit bacterial growth
• To distinguish between organisms based on hemolysis patterns
• To be used for subculturing bacteria detected on agar plates or as back-up cultures for small quantities of bacteria
• To preferentially support the growth of specific organisms

198. What should be stated for 'as required' medication orders (e.g., paracetamol) to avoid overdose?

• Only the dose
• A minimum dose interval and the maximum total daily dose
• The time of administration only
• The indication only

199. What is a common feature of a 'Pharmacist's Briefing' in a role-play scenario for obtaining a medication history from an elderly patient?

• The pharmacist is required to identify the medicines currently being taken by the patient
• The pharmacist is expected to diagnose new conditions
• The pharmacist is instructed to ignore over-the-counter medications
• The pharmacist is only to read the patient's medical notes

200. What is a crucial factor influencing the reliability and usefulness of quick reference sources (e.g., BNF tables, wall charts) for drug interactions?

• The number of pages in the reference
• The currency and reliability of the information needs careful assessment
• The graphic design of the chart
• The cost of the reference