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ExCPT Daily Question

Past questions

Try each one first, then tap to see the answer and the explanation.

Question 1 · Medication and Patient Safety and Quality Assurance

A patient at pickup says the tablets look different from last month. What should the technician do?

  • A. Tell the patient that generics often look different and finish the sale
  • B. Exchange the tablets for ones that look like last month's
  • C. Hold the prescription and have the pharmacist check it
  • D. Tell the patient to call the prescriber
Show the answer
C. Hold the prescription and have the pharmacist check it

A change in appearance may be a new manufacturer or an error, so the pharmacist must check.

Question 2 · Medication and Patient Safety and Quality Assurance

Which finding is a warning sign of possible drug diversion in a pharmacy?

  • A. Repeated, unexplained shortages in controlled substance counts
  • B. A drug that is on backorder from the wholesaler
  • C. A patient who pays cash for a generic antibiotic each month
  • D. A prescription transferred from another pharmacy
Show the answer
A. Repeated, unexplained shortages in controlled substance counts

Unexplained count discrepancies are a common sign that drugs are being stolen.

Question 3 · Patient Safety and Quality Assurance

Which is an example of a forcing function that prevents a medication error?

  • A. A reminder poster in the work area
  • B. A memo sent to staff
  • C. Extra staff training
  • D. Oral syringes that cannot connect to IV tubing
Show the answer
D. Oral syringes that cannot connect to IV tubing

A forcing function makes the error physically impossible, such as oral syringes that do not fit IV connectors.

Question 4 · Patient Safety and Quality Assurance

Why is "q.o.d." on The Joint Commission official list of abbreviations to avoid?

  • A. It means every hour while the patient is awake
  • B. It is used only in hospitals
  • C. It refers only to oral doses
  • D. It can be misread as q.d. or q.i.d.
Show the answer
D. It can be misread as q.d. or q.i.d.

q.o.d. (every other day) can be misread as q.d. or q.i.d.; the order should say "every other day".

Question 5 · Patient Safety and Quality Assurance

Which quality tool examines a process before an error happens to find where it could fail?

  • A. Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)
  • B. Root cause analysis after an event has occurred
  • C. An incident report after harm
  • D. The biennial inventory
Show the answer
A. Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)

FMEA is proactive: it maps a process and rates possible failures before they occur.

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