Computer applications in hospital pharmacy MCQs With Answer

Computer applications in hospital pharmacy MCQs With Answer provide B. Pharm students a focused review of pharmacy informatics, pharmacy management systems, and clinical decision support tools used in hospital settings. This introduction covers key topics such as electronic health records (EHR), e-prescribing, barcode medication administration, automated dispensing, inventory control, data security, interoperability standards (HL7, RxNorm), and pharmacovigilance systems. Carefully designed to build practical knowledge for dispensing, medication safety, and regulatory compliance, these questions emphasize real-world software functions, database concepts, and workflow integration. Clear explanations and answers reinforce learning for exams and practice. Now let’s test your knowledge with 30 MCQs on this topic.

Q1. Which system in hospital pharmacy primarily integrates medication orders with patient electronic health records to reduce transcription errors?

• Automated dispensing cabinet (ADC)
• Clinical decision support system (CDSS)
• Computerized physician order entry (CPOE)
• Barcode medication administration (BCMA)

Correct Answer: Computerized physician order entry (CPOE)

Q2. Which standard is commonly used for exchanging clinical and administrative data between hospital information systems?

• LOINC
• HL7
• DICOM
• IEEE 802.11

Correct Answer: HL7

Q3. RxNorm is primarily used in hospital pharmacy to:

• Encode laboratory test results
• Standardize medication names and codes
• Manage radiology images
• Encrypt patient data

Correct Answer: Standardize medication names and codes

Q4. Which application helps prevent administration errors by scanning patient wristbands and medication barcodes at the bedside?

• Telepharmacy
• Pharmacovigilance database
• Barcode medication administration (BCMA)
• Inventory management software

Correct Answer: Barcode medication administration (BCMA)

Q5. Automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs) improve medication workflow by:

• Automatically diagnosing patients
• Physically storing and dispensing unit-dose medications near the point of care
• Replacing pharmacists in clinical decision-making
• Generating insurance claims

Correct Answer: Physically storing and dispensing unit-dose medications near the point of care

Q6. Which component of pharmacy software provides drug interaction checks and dosing alerts at the time of prescribing?

• Inventory control module
• Clinical decision support system (CDSS)
• Patient billing module
• Report generation tool

Correct Answer: Clinical decision support system (CDSS)

Q7. In hospital pharmacy informatics, what is the primary purpose of audit trails?

• To schedule staff shifts
• To log user actions for security, accountability, and compliance
• To optimize medication pricing
• To automatically refill patient prescriptions

Correct Answer: To log user actions for security, accountability, and compliance

Q8. Which of the following best describes interoperability in healthcare IT?

• The ability of systems to exchange, interpret, and use data coherently
• Use of a single vendor for all hospital software
• Encryption of data during transmission
• Physical networking hardware compatibility

Correct Answer: The ability of systems to exchange, interpret, and use data coherently

Q9. Which data standard is primarily used for lab test results and observations?

• RxNorm
• HL7v2 messaging only
• LOINC
• SNOMED CT

Correct Answer: LOINC

Q10. Telepharmacy in a hospital context typically enables:

• Remote medication order review and counseling by pharmacists
• Automatic drug manufacturing
• Wireless charging of medical devices
• Printing of paper prescriptions only

Correct Answer: Remote medication order review and counseling by pharmacists

Q11. Which mechanism ensures only authorized personnel access sensitive pharmacy information?

• Role-based access control (RBAC)
• Open guest access
• Anonymous login
• Public Wi‑Fi

Correct Answer: Role-based access control (RBAC)

Q12. Which software feature helps maintain optimal stock levels and reduce drug shortages?

• Clinical decision support
• Inventory management with par-level and reorder alerts
• Patient scheduling
• Radiology image viewer

Correct Answer: Inventory management with par-level and reorder alerts

Q13. A drug–drug interaction checker integrated into pharmacy systems is most useful for:

• Calculating hospital revenue
• Identifying potentially harmful interactions and alerting clinicians
• Scheduling nursing shifts
• Managing HVAC systems

Correct Answer: Identifying potentially harmful interactions and alerting clinicians

Q14. Which dataset or vocabulary is most appropriate for identifying laboratory tests when integrating systems?

• RxNorm
• LOINC
• ICD-10
• UPC codes

Correct Answer: LOINC

Q15. What is the primary regulatory concern when implementing pharmacy software that handles patient health information?

• Color scheme of the user interface
• Compliance with data privacy and security regulations (e.g., HIPAA)
• Number of CPUs in servers
• Physical proximity to the pharmacy counter

Correct Answer: Compliance with data privacy and security regulations (e.g., HIPAA)

Q16. Which practice validates that a hospital pharmacy application performs as intended before use in production?

• Software obsolescence
• Software validation and user acceptance testing (UAT)
• Ignoring vendor documentation
• Automatic deployment without testing

Correct Answer: Software validation and user acceptance testing (UAT)

Q17. Which technology uses historical prescribing and outcome data to predict medication needs or identify safety risks?

• Blockchain for billing
• Predictive analytics and machine learning
• Fax-based ordering
• Manual ledger tracking

Correct Answer: Predictive analytics and machine learning

Q18. In medication dispensing, which system records exact time, user, and item to support traceability?

• Automated dispensing cabinet (ADC) with audit logs
• Paper logbook only
• Unmonitored shelving
• Public bulletin board

Correct Answer: Automated dispensing cabinet (ADC) with audit logs

Q19. Which of the following supports adverse drug reaction reporting and signal detection at the hospital level?

• Pharmacovigilance and adverse event reporting systems
• Payroll software
• Picture archiving system
• Wi‑Fi management tool

Correct Answer: Pharmacovigilance and adverse event reporting systems

Q20. What is the main advantage of e-prescribing integrated with pharmacy systems?

• Improves handwriting legibility and reduces transcription errors
• Increases paper usage
• Prevents any need for pharmacist review
• Removes need for drug inventory

Correct Answer: Improves handwriting legibility and reduces transcription errors

Q21. Which standard vocabulary is commonly used to represent clinical terms and diagnoses?

• SNOMED CT
• UPC
• CSS
• SMTP

Correct Answer: SNOMED CT

Q22. Which feature helps ensure correct compounding by guiding technicians with recipes, calculations, and checks?

• Compound preparation module with recipe, dosage calculators, and checks
• Accounting software
• General word processor
• Public internet browser

Correct Answer: Compound preparation module with recipe, dosage calculators, and checks

Q23. Which security measure protects data during transmission between hospital systems?

• Plain text transfer
• Encryption (e.g., TLS)
• Leaving ports open
• Using default passwords

Correct Answer: Encryption (e.g., TLS)

Q24. Which type of backup strategy minimizes data loss for pharmacy systems while allowing rapid recovery?

• Regular full and incremental backups with off-site replication
• Keeping only the latest file locally without backups
• Manual photocopies of screens
• Backing up only paper records

Correct Answer: Regular full and incremental backups with off-site replication

Q25. Which dataset provides normalized drug identifiers to support interoperability and medication reconciliation?

• RxNorm
• JPEG
• XML Schema
• ASCII

Correct Answer: RxNorm

Q26. What is the main role of middleware in hospital pharmacy IT?

• Directly manufacture medications
• Act as an intermediary to translate and route data between disparate systems
• Replace the electronic health record
• Serve as a user’s personal desktop

Correct Answer: Act as an intermediary to translate and route data between disparate systems

Q27. Which process ensures that clinical alerts in pharmacy software are meaningful and not ignored due to excessive false positives?

• Alert fatigue management through tuning and tiering of alerts
• Disabling all alerts
• Generating alerts for every action
• Randomizing alert thresholds

Correct Answer: Alert fatigue management through tuning and tiering of alerts

Q28. Which identifier is most useful for uniquely identifying a medication product in electronic orders and dispensing?

• Patient room number
• Product code using standardized nomenclature (e.g., RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier)
• Staff badge color
• Random text description

Correct Answer: Product code using standardized nomenclature (e.g., RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier)

Q29. Which function of pharmacy management software supports billing and insurance claim generation?

• Clinical decision alerts
• Financial and billing module integrated with insurance adjudication
• Barcode scanning only
• Web browsing

Correct Answer: Financial and billing module integrated with insurance adjudication

Q30. Which practice reduces the risk of unauthorized changes to medication orders in an electronic system?

• Implementing strong authentication, authorization controls, and electronic signatures
• Sharing passwords among staff
• Leaving sessions permanently logged in
• Using simple PINs posted on the wall

Correct Answer: Implementing strong authentication, authorization controls, and electronic signatures

G S Sachin

I am a Registered Pharmacist under the Pharmacy Act, 1948, and the founder of PharmacyFreak.com. I hold a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from Rungta College of Pharmaceutical Science and Research. With a strong academic foundation and practical knowledge, I am committed to providing accurate, easy-to-understand content to support pharmacy students and professionals. My aim is to make complex pharmaceutical concepts accessible and useful for real-world application.

Mail- Sachin@pharmacyfreak.com