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46 multiple-choice questions and 18 flashcards on Patient Safety and Quality Assurance, about 28% of the Pharmacy Tech bank. Every one carries a written rationale.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance is one of 4 chapters in CoStudy's Pharmacy Tech (PTCB CPhT) bank, and it holds 46 of the bank's 162 multiple-choice questions — roughly 28% of the total. That proportion is not arbitrary: chapters follow the certifying body's published exam outline, and the number of questions in each is set by that domain's published weight, so the share of your practice time this chapter takes matches the share of the real exam it accounts for.
Studying by chapter is worth doing once you have a diagnostic score. A single overall percentage tells you whether you are close; it does not tell you which domain is dragging. Working a weak chapter in isolation, and re-testing it in isolation, is the fastest way to move a score that has stalled — and it is why the mock exams in CoStudy report by domain rather than as one number.
10 questions drawn from this chapter, with the full rationale shown — the controlling principle behind the right answer, and why each wrong option tempts and fails.
ISMP discourages use of which symbol due to mistaking for 'per' or '4'?
Answer: A — /
'/' can be read as the number 1 or confused with 'per' in handwriting. D) '@' is also discouraged ('at' instead). A/C) Not specifically flagged.
Why use Tall Man Lettering (e.g., 'hydrOXYzine' vs 'hydrALAZINE')?
Answer: C — Reduce LASA (look-alike sound-alike) medication errors
A) Not marketing. C) Correct — Tall Man Lettering visually distinguishes LASA drug names. ISMP recommends. B) Voluntary best practice. D) Functional, not aesthetic.
Hand hygiene before sterile compounding must include washing for at least:
Answer: B — 30 seconds with antimicrobial soap, up to the elbows
USP 797 specifies thorough wash up to the elbows. A) Too short. C) Excessive. D) Sanitizer alone insufficient before garbing.
Tall Man lettering for 'hydroxyzine' vs 'hydralazine' is written as:
Answer: B — hydrOXYzine vs hydrALAZINE
ISMP capitalizes the distinguishing portion of LASA names. A) No emphasis. C) Yelling, less effective. D) Title case, no differentiation.
Cleaning of an ISO 5 PEC must be performed at least:
Answer: C — Every 30 minutes during compounding and after spills/contamination
USP 797 requires PEC surface cleaning at the start of shift, every 30 min during compounding, when surfaces are contaminated, and at end of shift. A/B/D) Insufficient.
Bar code medication administration (BCMA) reduces errors primarily by:
Answer: B — Verifying right patient, right drug, right dose at administration
BCMA pairs patient wristband barcode with medication barcode and MAR. A) Sometimes slower. C) Does not replace pharmacist DUR. D) Not its purpose.
Auxiliary label 'May cause drowsiness' is appropriate for:
Answer: D — Diphenhydramine
First-generation antihistamines cause significant sedation. A) Second-gen minimally sedating. C) H2 blocker, minimal sedation. B) Mild relative to diphenhydramine.
An order reads 'humulin R 10U SC'. What is the correct ISMP-safe transcription?
Answer: B — Humulin R 10 units SC
'U' on the do-not-use list — write 'units' to prevent misreading as 0. C) Wrong dose. D) cc deprecated for mL. A) Retains error-prone abbreviation.
An aqueous oral non-preserved compound's BUD under USP 795 is generally:
Answer: A — Up to 14 days refrigerated
USP 795 default BUDs: aqueous non-preserved = 14 days refrigerated; preserved aqueous longer; nonaqueous up to 6 months. B/C/D) Excessive.
Auxiliary label 'Avoid sunlight' is most appropriate for:
Answer: C — Doxycycline
Tetracyclines (doxy, mino) and sulfonamides, fluoroquinolones cause photosensitivity. A/C/D) No major phototoxicity.
4 cards from the 18 in this chapter.
PTCB?
Pharmacy Technician Certification Board. Administers CPhT (Certified Pharmacy Technician) credential.
Hazardous drug handling?
Use chemo gloves + gown + N95/PAPR if compounding. Closed System Transfer Devices. USP 800 standards.
Vaccine cold chain?
Continuous temperature-controlled storage/transport (ultra-cold, frozen, or refrigerated per product) required to maintain vaccine potency; breaks in the chain can render doses unusable.
CPhT exam format?
90 multiple-choice questions (80 scored + 10 unscored), 1 hr 50 min.
These are a sample. The full Patient Safety and Quality Assurance chapter runs 64 items with per-chapter progress tracking, on the web and in the iOS app.
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