Pass the PSA

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You will be asked to make a drug dosage calculation; the question will contain all relevant numerical data as well as distracting data that you will not need. You will be given the units. The beginning of Appendix 1 in the paper BNF contains several tables of ‘drugs that cause…’. This saves you from looking up each drug individually when being asked which drug is most likely to cause ‘x’. It is made up of 8 sections totalling 200 marks. The time given to complete this is 120 minutes. Questions will cover topics such as Medicine, Surgery, General Practice, Psychiatry, Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and Elderly Care. When identifying drugs with dose errors, note that in some cases the error is with the frequency rather than the dose itself. A correct dose with a wrong frequency counts as a dose error as well.

Psa exam - The Student Room Psa exam - The Student Room

Sometimes it is inappropriate to treat/change management and it important to bear in mind non-drug therapies (e.g. physiotherapy, TENS machines for pain relief) have a role.For questions about the monitoring for beneficial effects, you need to use your clinical knowledge and judgement to determine to most appropriate monitoring option. The information about that is not usually available in the BNF. This section alone carries 40% of the total marks and is therefore the most important section in the PSA. You should attempt this section first and try your best to score well in it. The information that is important can often be found in “important safety information” ( e.g Rivaroxaban not being effective on an empty stomach ), “patient and carer advice” (e.g advice regarding missed contraceptive doses) or “monitoring requirements”. In some cases, it may be a common clinical practice to round certain doses or volumes to a certain nearest value. However, you should not round your final answer unless you are instructed by the question to do so. For each question in this section, there will be a clinical scenario with results of investigations and you have to make a change to the drug prescriptions. The investigations may include plasma drug concentration.

pass the Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA)… How to pass the Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA)…

Among the 5 choices of answers, there may be more than one with correct information, but only one contains the information that is most appropriate to tell the patient. Each question has 10 marks available (5 for the drug choice and 5 for the choice of dose/route/frequency). Use your clinical knowledge and judgement to determine the most suitable drug or fluid, taking into consideration all information provided in the question. You can also refer to the BNF for guidance if needed, though not all information is available in the BNF. This section contains calculation questions where you have to calculate the dose, volume or rate of administration of drugs. It is the easiest section to score full marks, as long as you don't make careless mistakes.

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Generally, you should take into consideration the plasma drug concentration, response to the drug and features of toxicity. If the plasma concentration is below normal range and the response is inadequate, then increase the dose, usually by the smallest increment among the answer choices. If the response is adequate but the plasma concentration is below normal, do not change the dose. You will be given a clinical scenario where a drug (often new) has been prescribed. You will be asked to select the most appropriate monitoring actions.