Pass the PSA E-Book

Product Information

Every question in the PSA question bank has been written and reviewed by doctors, to ensure they deliver excellent educational value.

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 Data interpretation made memorable and simple including ECG, ABGs, chest X-rays and basic bloods. Common traps highlighted throughout. Here you will be given a clinical scenario and asked to decide which treatment would be most appropriate from several plausible answers. For example, patients require ~ 1mmol/kg/day of K+, this should not be infused at a rate >10mmol/hr.Know what to do in the event of a missed contraceptive pill (this varies depending on the type of pill being taken). There are 36 seconds per mark; if you are struggling to find an answer within a suitable time frame for the available marks, make a best guess (there is no negative marking) and move on. 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’.

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. Know your metrics! milligrams and millilitres, micrograms and nanograms. Know the difference and how to convert between them. Know how to prescribe gentamicin and how to use the gentamicin chart to determine next prescription timing

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. If unsure of how to manage ADR, the answers can often be found in the respective treatment summaries of the BNF. For examples – medication overdoses (poisoning, emergency treatment), hypoglycaemia (hypoglycaemia), reversal of a high INR (oral anticoagulants). 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. Enzyme inhibitors: AO DEVICES – allopurinol, omeprazole, disulfiram, erythromycin, valproate, isoniazid, ciprofloxacin, ethanol (acute intoxication), sulphonamides. Others: grapefruit juice, amiodarone, and SSRIs (fluoxetine, sertraline). A PSA pass is considered valid for two years. An FP 2022 applicant who has taken and passed the PSA before February 2021 will be required to take it again by their foundation school.

PSA questions are predominantly based on information that can be found within the BNF. This includes: drug dose, drug route, drug frequency, side effects, adjustments in renal impairment, monitoring requirements and so on. It has a wealth of information beyond simply drug dosing, including interactions and treatment summaries. Get familiar with the BNF. The BNF online is the best option if you are wondering, but it really helps with efficiency if you are already familiar with how to navigate it before sitting the exam.You don’t need to know everything, you just need to know how to find it. This is key! There are things you need to know – but you can be smart about learning what can’t be found on the BNF as long as you know how to locate the information you are looking for. For example what to do with a high INR can be found in the BNF.