Our quiz will show whether you have what it takes.
Apparently pharmacists can easily do the work of a GP, which is why they’re petitioning for prescriber numbers.
But is the opposite true? Could a GP slide effortlessly into the role of a community pharmacist? Find out by taking Professor Candid’s quiz.
- An 83-year-old lady has accidentally emptied all of her medications out into a carrier bag and has given them a good shake. She’s come to the pharmacy and now wants you to help sort them out.
A. Draw a circle around her rosuvastatin and label it A
B. Draw a circle around her clopidogrel and label it B
C. Draw a cirle around her candasartan and label it C
2. A patient with acute tonsillitis presents with a script for penicillin V. Do you
A. Phone around for the patient and try to secure a supply
B. Try scraping some off a furry piece of diabetic chocolate you found lying on the window sill
C. Put it in the too-hard basket and send them back to their GP. I mean who do these GPs think we are, Florey and Chain? Pricks!
3. A patient presents with increased urinary frequency. What’s your approach?
A. Think “how hard can this medical malarkey be?” and sell them some top-of-the-range antibiotics
B. Take a thorough history only to realise that urinary symptoms have an intimidatingly wide differential
C. Refer them back to their GP
4. A customer asks for a multivitamin, do you
A. Explain that it’s probably a waste of time and that there’s limited evidence a daily cocktail of vitamins and minerals delivers what you expect
B. Sell them the most expensive multi-vitamin you can get your hands on
C. Sell them some cut-price slightly odd-tasting diabetic chocolate
5. A 34 year old male patient has been coming to you for several years and is prescribed 70mg of methadone daily. He is usually on daily dispense but is now covid positive and because he’s socially isolated he doesn’t have anyone to pick up his dose for him. What is your approach?
A. Since the patient has been coming to your pharmacy for years and has been paying a private dispensing fee for all that time you feel obliged to drive to the patient’s address and put the bottle next to their door
B. Drive past the patient’s house, throw the bottle over the hedge and hope for the best
C. Tell them “meh, there’s bugger all I can do for you” and send him back to his GP
6. A male in his 20s has a pack of ultra-thin condoms, a bottle of Givenchy “Gentleman Reserve” Eau de Parfum and some KY Jelly in his basket. Do you
A. Comment positively on his gentlemanly purchases
B. Shout “Want some crab cream and cranberry juice as well mate?”
C. Avoid eye contact and say nothing
7. A patient is prescribed 250mg naproxen daily but you only have the 500mg tablets in stock. Do you
A. Dispense the 500mg tablets and tell the patient to halve them
B. Phone the GP and leave a message for them; after not hearing back phone the GP again and leave another message; wait for another three hours for the GP to get back to you because they’ve been wading through hundreds of other messages from pharmacists, only to be told to dispense the 500mg tablets and tell the patient to halve them
C. Sell them a multivitamin
Congratulations, you’ve completed the quiz. If you answered mainly Bs you’ll make a stellar pharmacist!
