Wattle Pharmacy Prep

Practice questions for the overseas pharmacist exam in Australia

Pharmacists trained outside Australia sit the Overseas Pharmacist Readiness Assessment (OPRA®) of the Australian Pharmacy Council on the way to registration. It is a multiple-choice exam across five content areas. Wattle Pharmacy Prep is an independent app with 2,200 questions written for it, each with a full explanation.

The five content areas

Weights follow the exam guide the Council publishes; check its current edition for anything that has changed.

Try three questions

1. Which principle applies to advertising a pharmacy's professional services?

  1. Testimonials are encouraged to demonstrate quality
  2. Any advertising is permitted if the service is real
  3. Advertising must not be false, misleading or deceptive, must not create unreasonable expectations of benefit, and must not use testimonials about clinical care
  4. Only medicine advertising is regulated
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C. Advertising must not be false, misleading or deceptive, must not create unreasonable expectations of benefit, and must not use testimonials about clinical care

The national law restricts advertising of regulated health services, including the use of testimonials about clinical aspects of care, offers that encourage indiscriminate use, and claims of superiority that cannot be substantiated. These rules apply to websites and social media as well as to signage, and the practitioner is responsible for content they control.

2. Which factor should be assessed before starting an anticoagulant in an older patient with atrial fibrillation?

  1. Bleeding risk including falls, previous bleeding, renal function, alcohol use and concurrent antiplatelets, weighed against stroke risk
  2. Only the patient's preference
  3. Age alone, with anticoagulation avoided over 80
  4. Falls risk alone, which usually contraindicates anticoagulation
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A. Bleeding risk including falls, previous bleeding, renal function, alcohol use and concurrent antiplatelets, weighed against stroke risk

Both risks rise with age, but stroke risk rises faster, so most older patients benefit. Falls are frequently cited as a reason to withhold anticoagulation, yet the number of falls required to offset the stroke benefit is very large. The productive approach is to modify reversible bleeding risks rather than to withhold treatment.

3. Which factor most influences the choice of antipsychotic for a first episode of psychosis?

  1. The adverse effect profile matched to the individual, since efficacy between agents other than clozapine is broadly similar
  2. The route of administration only
  3. The cost of the medicine alone
  4. Antipsychotics are interchangeable in every respect
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A. The adverse effect profile matched to the individual, since efficacy between agents other than clozapine is broadly similar

Because efficacy is comparable, tolerability determines whether a young person stays on treatment, and weight gain, sedation, sexual dysfunction and movement effects all drive discontinuation. Clozapine is the exception, being superior in treatment-resistant illness, but it is reserved because of its monitoring requirements and adverse effects.

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All 2,200 questions, offline

Wattle Pharmacy Prep has every question with a full explanation, practice by area and topic, timed 120-question mock exams in 150 minutes, and a readiness score that only counts a question once you have answered it correctly twice in a row. One purchase, no subscription, no account, fully offline.

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