APC Written Assessment case studies
APC Written Assessment · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The APC Written Assessment - widely known as KAPS, the Knowledge Assessment of Pharmaceutical Sciences - is the written knowledge examination within the Australian Pharmacy Council's skills assessment pathway for pharmacists who qualified overseas and are seeking to practise in Australia. It is designed to test whether a candidate's pharmaceutical sciences knowledge, and the professional judgement built on it, is comparable to what is expected of a pharmacy graduate entering practice in Australia. The APC Written Assessment case studies are 5 cases and about 4,438 words.
1A contrast scan, a creatinine and three innocent-looking medicines
Mrs Rita Kovacs is 78 years old, weighs 52 kg and has type 2 diabetes, hypertension and knee osteoarthritis. Her medicines are metformin 1000 mg twice daily, perindopril 10 mg daily, frusemide 40 mg each morning and ibuprofen 400 mg three times daily, which she started three weeks ago.
857 words, about 4 min2A nasogastric tube and four formulations that should not be crushed
Mr Doug Harris is 71 and was admitted 10 days ago with a left hemisphere stroke. He now has a fine-bore nasogastric tube in situ, is tolerating feed and is transferring to a rehabilitation unit tomorrow.
907 words, about 5 min3Three kilograms of fluid, a sore knee and a naproxen prescription
Mr Alan Whitfield is 74, weighs 88 kg and has heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (LVEF 28 per cent), atrial fibrillation and chronic kidney disease. His medicines are perindopril 5 mg daily, carvedilol 6.25 mg twice daily, spironolactone 25 mg daily, frusemide 40 mg daily, atorvastatin 40 mg daily and apixaban 5 mg twice daily.
829 words, about 4 min4Tremor, clonus and a new tramadol script
Ms Leanne Park is 42 and takes sertraline 100 mg each morning for depression and sumatriptan 50 mg as needed for migraine. Three days ago, after lifting, she developed severe low back pain and her GP prescribed tramadol 100 mg modified-release twice daily.
860 words, about 4 min5Four prescribers, three pharmacies and a flight to Bali
Mr Jake Donnelly is 29 and works fly-in fly-out. He hands in a prescription from a telehealth service he has never attended in person: oxycodone 20 mg controlled-release twice daily plus oxycodone 5 mg immediate-release every 4 hours as needed, with two repeats, and diazepam 10 mg twice daily.
985 words, about 5 min