Prepare for the PSA has been tested using Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 and higher; the latest versions of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera for PC; Safari for Mac; and the built-in browser for Android devices. The Board selects question items from the item bank to create PSA assessments, supervises the work of the standard setting group and reviews the performance of individual items during summative assessments.

Top tip: Multiple answers may be ‘correct’, so think about what is relevant to the patient in question! The Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA) is a pass/fail assessment of the skills, judgment and supporting knowledge related to prescribing medicines in the NHS. The eight distinct prescribing areas: prescribing, prescription review, planning management, providing information about medicines, calculation, adverse drug reactions, drug monitoring and data interpretation, are delivered over two hours.The Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA), introduced in 2016, is an online assessment of competency in the safe and effective prescribing of medications. 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. While the test may be daunting, the majority of those sitting the PSA will pass with the median score being ~75% and the pass mark frequently around ~63% (Determined by the Standard-Setting Group).

Some of my friends got stressed about the PSA as an added exam on top of finals and the SJT but if you set aside a little time each week and review your pharmacology knowledge you are not only preparing for the PSA but you are also preparing for finals. Endocrine practice : official journal of the American College of Endocrinology and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists 2002;8(6):457-69. Those who have not passed the PSA in the two years prior to starting their F1 job will be required to pass the test before the end of their F1 year (i. You’ll be sent details of the exam, including how to activate and use your PSA account, directly from your medical school. Once you have successfully completed your account activation you will be able to view further materials to make you more familiar with the PSA assessment environment.It should be noted that whilst the BNF contains lots of information that will be useful for the PSA, this information has to be taken within the context of the question. There is an element of judgement of which is most important, if several pieces of information are accurate. However, remember the PSA is a time-sensitive examination – you will not be able to look up every answer, so having some background knowledge around prescribing is essential. Ensuring that you’re aware of what is included will undoubtedly go some way to helping you understand what will be expected of you in the exam. The PSA is assessing that you have achieved the core competencies outlined in the GMC’s Outcomes for Graduates for ‘prescribing medicines safely’.

e. the questions refer to ailments and drugs that graduates are likely to be dealing with in year one of the Foundation Programme.A lot of drug monitoring requirements are about watching out for the development of adverse effects (e. The questions that ask the candidate to fill a prescription chart carry 10 marks each: 5 for the drug choice and 5 for the choice of dose/route/frequency, making a total of 80 marks for this item style in a summative assessment. This saves you from looking up each drug individually when being asked which drug is most likely to cause ‘x’. This section requires basic mathematical skills that you learnt back in primary and secondary school, not more than that. While paper copies of the BNF and BNFc can be allowed, it is important to be aware that the paper versions may not contain the most up-to-date prescribing advice.