As the scope of testing for this section can be quite broad, knowledge of some common scenarios will be very helpful: 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. TobehonestIcan'treallyrememberhavingtodotoomuchasIwasmorefocussedonfinalsrevision-thepracticepapers,makingsureIwashappywithfindingmywayaroundtheBNFandthatwasaboutit.

Pass the PSA e-Book : Pass the PSA e-Book - Google Books

The PSA is undertaken by medical students in the early spring of their final year. It is an online exam that lasts for two hours and comprises 60 questions across eight-question formats. The total number of marks available is 200. Each medical school is allowed to choose whether or not they interpret the PSA as a summative assessment towards their medical degree. In most cases, you should prescribe a drug using its generic name, unless if only its brand name is the approved name. Do not prescribe any non-pharmacological treatment.The drug of choice that should come to mind is ‘Furosemide” and hence should be searched up on the BNF to get information such as the route, dose and frequency

PSA Exam 2015 - The Student Room PSA Exam 2015 - The Student Room

However, if the questions asks “What IV treatment would be prescribed for a hypoglycaemic patient?” and you are unsure about what dextrose preparation to use, seach “hypoglycaemia” on the BNF under treatment summaries. This would then tell you that 10%/20% preparations are preferred over the 50% preparation. ABCDE is usually the first step of management for adverse drug reactions. If there is an answer choice involving ABCDE, it should be the answer. For pharmacological management, the dose, route of administration, frequency and duration of each drug in the choices of answers may or may not be correct, so you need to think about them as well. These information should be available in the BNF. Anaphylaxis is an adverse drug effect commonly tested in the PSA, so you have to know its management well. You will be given a clinical scenario and a list of 6-10 drugs the patient is taking, you will need to identify drugs that are contra-indicated (e.g. in renal impairment), causing the clinical picture (e.g. hypokalaemia, confusion, hypotension), or contain a dosing error.The prescribing items are marked using an automated system that compares the given answer with a mark scheme containing a number of correct answer(s) and suboptimal answers. The given answer must exactly match one of the answers in the mark scheme in all respects for credit to be given automatically. The PSA was developed by the Medical Schools Council (MSC) and British Pharmacology Society (BPS) with roll-out across medical schools in the UK during 2014. Sorrytohearyoudidn'tpass.Thefactthatyouweresoclosetothethresholddespitedoinglittleworkshouldgiveyousomeconfidencethistimeroundhopefully. Know how to prescribe gentamicin and how to use the gentamicin chart to determine next prescription timing