PEBC OSCE key terms

A structured interview and verification process that produces a complete list of everything a patient actually takes, including prescriptions, over-the-counter products, herbals, and adherence patterns, before new orders are written.

A formal process of comparing a patient's current medication list against new orders at care transitions, identifying discrepancies, and resolving them with the prescriber to prevent omissions, duplications, and dosing errors.

Any unexplained difference between what a patient is taking and what is documented or newly prescribed. Discrepancies are classified as intentional or unintentional and must be documented and resolved.

Two or more products containing the same active ingredient or agents from the same pharmacological class taken together, raising the risk of additive toxicity without added benefit.

A sign or symptom suggesting serious underlying disease that requires urgent referral or emergency care rather than self-treatment, such as chest pain, sudden vision loss, or unexplained weight loss.

Rapidly sorting patients by urgency of need so that life-threatening problems are escalated immediately while minor complaints are managed with self-care advice or routine referral.

The point at which a pharmacist decides a patient's problem exceeds the scope of self-care or pharmacist prescribing and must be sent to a physician, nurse practitioner, or emergency department.

A non-judgmental exploration of how a patient actually uses a medicine, including missed doses, timing, and reasons for deviation, usually combined with refill records and open-ended questioning.

Verification that a prescription contains all legally required elements, is written by an authorized prescriber, is dated within the allowed period, and is not altered or forged, before any dispensing occurs.

Confirmation that the person who signed the prescription is licensed to prescribe that drug class and is permitted to treat this patient, including checking registration status and any prescribing restrictions.

A prescription that has been altered, copied, or created without the prescriber's knowledge or consent. It must not be dispensed and is handled according to legal reporting obligations.

The pharmacist's verification that the dispensed product matches the prescription in drug, strength, dosage form, quantity, and labelling, performed before the medicine is released to the patient.

The last verification step before handover, confirming the assembled prescription, label, auxiliary labels, and counselling points are correct and complete for that specific patient.

A supplementary sticker or printed warning added to a prescription container to convey handling or safety information, such as shake well, refrigerate, or may cause drowsiness.

The prescriber's permission, recorded on the original prescription or obtained later, allowing a specified number of additional dispensings or a defined treatment period before renewal is required.

A legally permitted change made by a pharmacist without prior prescriber contact, such as a therapeutic substitution or dosage form change, allowed only under specific provincial or jurisdictional rules.

A counselling technique in which the patient explains in their own words how to take the medicine and what to watch for, letting the pharmacist confirm understanding rather than assume it.

Explaining medicines using short sentences, everyday words, and concrete instructions, avoiding unexplained jargon, so that patients with limited health literacy can act on the advice.

A person's ability to obtain, understand, and use health information to make decisions. Low health literacy affects counselling design, label readability, and the choice of adherence supports.

A collaborative, goal-oriented conversation style that helps patients articulate their own reasons for change, using open questions, reflective listening, and affirmation rather than advice-giving or confrontation.

Selecting the two or three most important messages for a given patient, such as the main risk, the key administration detail, and when to seek help, instead of reciting every possible fact.

A written, patient-specific plan listing the medication-related problems identified, the goals of therapy, the interventions chosen, and the timeline for monitoring and follow-up.

Any undesirable event or circumstance involving drug therapy that actually or potentially interferes with a desired health outcome, including untreated indications, wrong drug, dose too high or low, and adverse effects.

A measurable value, such as blood pressure, INR, HbA1c, or serum potassium, tracked over time to judge whether therapy is effective and safe and to trigger dose adjustment.

The interval of drug concentration or clinical measurement within which benefit is likely and toxicity is acceptable, used to interpret laboratory results and guide dose changes.

Systematic review of a patient's full medication list for interactions between drugs, and between drugs and disease states, food, or laboratory tests, followed by a plan to manage significant findings.

A harmful and unintended response to a medicine at doses normally used for treatment, which must be recognized, documented, and where required reported to the national monitoring program.

A structured handover format covering Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation, used to give another health professional a concise, complete picture and a clear request.

A communication pattern in which the sender gives a message, the receiver repeats it back, and the sender confirms accuracy, reducing errors in high-stakes verbal exchanges.

A written agreement between a pharmacist and one or more prescribers defining which activities the pharmacist may perform, such as adjusting doses or renewing therapy, and under what conditions.

The legally defined set of activities a pharmacist is authorized to perform in a given jurisdiction, including any prescribing, injecting, or adapting authority and its conditions.

A patient's voluntary agreement to a service or treatment after receiving and understanding the relevant information about benefits, risks, alternatives, and the right to refuse.

The legal and ethical duty to collect only necessary personal health information, protect it from unauthorized access or disclosure, and share it only as permitted by law or patient consent.

A situation where a professional obligation or patient interest could be influenced by a secondary interest, such as a financial incentive or gift, which must be disclosed and managed.

The limit between a therapeutic relationship and a personal one, maintained so that power imbalance, emotional dependence, or personal gain does not compromise patient care or judgment.

A calculation method for mixing two preparations of different strengths to obtain a required intermediate strength, often solved with a ratio or a diagram of proportional parts.

Determining how much stock solution and diluent are needed to reach a target concentration, typically using the relationship that the amount of drug stays constant while volume changes.

A way of expressing strength as parts per hundred, where weight-in-volume percent means grams per 100 mL and weight-in-weight percent means grams per 100 g of preparation.

The required content and quality of a pharmacy record, including date, patient and drug identifiers, intervention made, person contacted, outcome, and the identity of the documenting pharmacist.