Question re: med tests at interview

[Guest321574]

Wondering if anyone has every gotten several questions wrong on a med test, but still was offered a job?

I'm remember some of the questions, and looking up answers, and I think I got at least 3, maybe 4 wrong. Could even be a few more, those are just the ones I remember having trouble with. I think there were 10 total.

I'm a semi-new grad (approaching 1 year of licensure) and I work in psych so I have forgotten quite a bit. Like how long between administering two types of eye drops, etc (5 minutes from what I can tell, but I put 30 wasn't sure so I was thought I would pick the "safe" answer).

The one I'm not sure about was the standard dose of digoxin...I put 0.125, but I've seen conflicting dosages, so I'm not sure what they were looking for.

Anyway, has a situation like this worked out for anyone?

[highlandlass1592, BSN, RN]

Sure it could work out..but the question becomes are you advocating for yourself? Did you share with the person administering the test what area you are currently working in and that you may be unfamiliar with current medical/surgical meds and may need a bit of a refresher? Don't stand on the sidelines and expect everything to work out. You need to let them know while you may be a bit weak on those current meds, you are very strong on common psych meds and are willing to participate in further education to strengthen yourself and your skills. That will demonstrate to your future employer a desire to continue improving your skills and a willingness to learn. It is presenting yourself in a professional manner. Good luck to you.

[MrsCrypes]

For a home care position, I have a 10 question meds test in which I got 9/10 right. It was very simple I thought and what I got wrong had to do with the food you are NOT to administer to someone on Coumadin therapy.... for some reason I always screw that one up. In the end, I got the position w/o a problem. I would think that if you less than 8 correct on a 10 question meds test, then it doesn't look good.

[Guest321574]

I don't know I thought some of them were kind of out there. Or I could just be embarassing myself that I didn't know the answers, LOL. For instance, I have never even heard of zaroxolyn. There were two questions about it, and I got 1 right. The wrong one was, when wouldn't you give it, if the pt had what type of allergy. I second guessed myself because I had sulfa, but for some reason changed to codeine (and I'm mad at myself for breaking my rule of never changing an answer!)

And the digoxin question (standard adult dose) the choices were 0.125, 0.25, 0.5 and 1.5mg. According to Davis the answer could be any of the first 3.

Regardless, it was an informal test no one was administering it per se (if I had had my blackberry I could have just looked up the answers with epocrates), but the interviewer didn't go over it, or even mention it. I did make it clear that my limited experience is in psych.