Norms for customer calls and doctor visits MCQs With Answer

As a B.Pharm student, understanding norms for customer calls and doctor visits is essential for safe, ethical pharmaceutical practice. This introduction covers professional conduct, communication skills, regulatory compliance, patient safety, sample handling, accurate product information, and documentation standards. You will learn how to plan appointments, respect prescriber autonomy, maintain confidentiality, report adverse events, and follow anti-bribery and promotional rules. Mastering these norms improves interactions with pharmacists, doctors, and patients while reducing legal and clinical risks. Practical awareness of consent, record-keeping, and correct handling of samples and prescriptions is emphasized. Now let’s test your knowledge with 30 MCQs on this topic.

Q1. Which practice is most appropriate when scheduling a doctor visit as a medical representative?

• Arrive unannounced to catch the doctor at a free moment
• Call ahead and confirm an appointment time
• Visit during peak clinic hours without prior notice
• Text the doctor once and show up immediately

Correct Answer: Call ahead and confirm an appointment time

Q2. During a customer call from a pharmacy, what information must be verified before advising on a prescription?

• The pharmacist’s personal preferences
• Patient identity and prescription authenticity
• The pharmacy’s monthly sales figures
• The weather forecast

Correct Answer: Patient identity and prescription authenticity

Q3. What is the primary ethical concern when offering free samples during a doctor visit?

• Ensuring samples are promoted off-label
• Using samples to unduly influence prescribing
• Giving unlimited quantities without records
• Providing samples only to non-prescribers

Correct Answer: Using samples to unduly influence prescribing

Q4. Which of the following is a required action if a patient reports an adverse drug reaction during a customer call?

• Ignore it unless the doctor calls back
• Document the report and notify pharmacovigilance
• Offer a discount on the next purchase
• Recommend stopping all medications immediately

Correct Answer: Document the report and notify pharmacovigilance

Q5. What is an acceptable reason to disclose patient information during a doctor visit?

• To promote a new drug to a colleague
• When required by law or with patient consent
• To increase sample distribution
• To satisfy marketing analytics

Correct Answer: When required by law or with patient consent

Q6. Which regulation principle should guide promotional discussions with prescribers?

• Emphasize off-label benefits prominently
• Provide balanced, evidence-based information
• Guarantee patient outcomes to secure prescriptions
• Promise financial incentives for prescriptions

Correct Answer: Provide balanced, evidence-based information

Q7. When handling medicinal samples on a doctor visit, the best practice is to:

• Leave samples without recording recipient details
• Document quantity, recipient, and purpose
• Distribute samples irrespective of prescribing role
• Store samples in any available room temperature

Correct Answer: Document quantity, recipient, and purpose

Q8. Which behavior demonstrates respect for a doctor’s time during a visit?

• Lengthy unscheduled presentations
• Concise, focused discussion aligned to appointment time
• Calling the doctor repeatedly during clinic hours
• Delivering non-work-related gifts in meetings

Correct Answer: Concise, focused discussion aligned to appointment time

Q9. What is a key component of compliance when discussing clinical data with doctors?

• Selecting only positive study outcomes
• Presenting complete, referenced clinical evidence
• Using anecdotal success stories as sole proof
• Altering data to simplify interpretation

Correct Answer: Presenting complete, referenced clinical evidence

Q10. Which action is mandatory when you discover an expired product in a customer’s inventory during a visit?

• Ignore it and proceed with promotion
• Report and advise proper quarantine and disposal
• Encourage sale at discount to clear stock
• Replace it without documenting the incident

Correct Answer: Report and advise proper quarantine and disposal

Q11. For telephone counseling of a patient by pharmacy staff, the most important norm is to:

• Provide specific dosing changes without records
• Verify identity, document counseling, and advise follow-up
• Recommend prescription changes via phone routinely
• Share another patient’s successful regimen

Correct Answer: Verify identity, document counseling, and advise follow-up

Q12. What should a medical representative do if a doctor requests off-label promotional material?

• Provide it if the doctor requests
• Decline and provide approved, evidence-based information
• Modify existing material to include off-label claims
• Tell the doctor off-label use is always safe

Correct Answer: Decline and provide approved, evidence-based information

Q13. Which record is most important to keep after a doctor visit involving sample distribution?

• The representative’s travel expenses
• Sample log with recipient, batch numbers, and quantities
• Copies of the doctor’s personal notes
• Sales target projections

Correct Answer: Sample log with recipient, batch numbers, and quantities

Q14. During a customer call, who should be consulted before making a medication substitution?

• The prescribing doctor or authorized prescriber
• The marketing manager
• A fellow customer’s opinion
• The product’s sales leaflet alone

Correct Answer: The prescribing doctor or authorized prescriber

Q15. Which practice best ensures patient safety when delivering drug information over the phone?

• Rely on memory to relay complex dosing
• Use standard written materials and confirm understanding
• Advise experimental dosing regimens
• Tell patients to stop therapy without consulting prescriber

Correct Answer: Use standard written materials and confirm understanding

Q16. What is the correct response if a doctor asks for a gift in exchange for prescribing a drug?

• Provide the gift and record it privately
• Refuse and explain company policy and ethical rules
• Ignore the request and continue as usual
• Promise future larger gifts to secure prescriptions

Correct Answer: Refuse and explain company policy and ethical rules

Q17. Which communication method is best for follow-up after a doctor visit?

• Persistent unplanned phone calls
• Scheduled emails or calls per agreed preference
• Public social media tagging
• Entering the clinic without notification

Correct Answer: Scheduled emails or calls per agreed preference

Q18. If a pharmacy calls requesting urgent medication due to stock-out, the appropriate action is to:

• Sell expired stock to meet demand
• Verify prescription, check inventory, and arrange authorized supply
• Suggest an unapproved compound as replacement
• Refuse without offering alternatives

Correct Answer: Verify prescription, check inventory, and arrange authorized supply

Q19. Confidentiality during doctor visits means:

• Discussing patient cases openly in public areas
• Sharing patient identifiers only with authorized personnel
• Uploading patient details to public forums
• Using patient data for marketing analytics without consent

Correct Answer: Sharing patient identifiers only with authorized personnel

Q20. What is the role of record-keeping for customer calls in pharmacy practice?

• To track sales only
• To document advice, prescriptions, and follow-up for safety and audit
• To store marketing scripts for reuse
• To collect personal opinions about prescribers

Correct Answer: To document advice, prescriptions, and follow-up for safety and audit

Q21. Which practice ensures ethical interaction when presenting a new drug to clinicians?

• Focus solely on comparisons that favor your product
• Disclose benefits, risks, and limitations with supporting evidence
• Guarantee patient cure to win trust
• Conceal adverse event data to avoid concern

Correct Answer: Disclose benefits, risks, and limitations with supporting evidence

Q22. During a customer call, a pharmacist asks for dosing details for a pediatric patient. You should:

• Provide manufacturer-approved pediatric dosing and references
• Suggest adult doses scaled by guesswork
• Refer to anecdotal experience only
• Advise off-label experimental dosing

Correct Answer: Provide manufacturer-approved pediatric dosing and references

Q23. What is the best handling practice for temperature-sensitive samples during doctor visits?

• Carry them in an insulated container with temperature monitoring
• Leave them in the car trunk all day
• Store them in a warm pocket
• Expose them to direct sunlight to keep them dry

Correct Answer: Carry them in an insulated container with temperature monitoring

Q24. When a doctor requests data from an unpublished trial, you should:

• Provide internal unpublished data without approval
• Seek compliance approval and share only authorized information
• Invent supporting data to satisfy the doctor
• Ignore the request entirely

Correct Answer: Seek compliance approval and share only authorized information

Q25. What should be included in documentation after a customer call regarding a prescription clarification?

• Time, caller identity, clarification given, and next steps
• Only the final decision without details
• Personal notes unrelated to the call
• Sales pitch used during the call

Correct Answer: Time, caller identity, clarification given, and next steps

Q26. Which principle applies to accepting hospitality from healthcare professionals during visits?

• Accept any offer to build rapport
• Follow company policy and anti-bribery laws; accept only modest, appropriate hospitality
• Accept lavish gifts to secure business
• Record gifts secretly without reporting

Correct Answer: Follow company policy and anti-bribery laws; accept only modest, appropriate hospitality

Q27. For telephone prescription validation, which step is essential?

• Dispense immediately without checking prescriber identity
• Verify prescriber identity, confirm details, and log the call
• Rely on the caller’s tone of voice as proof
• Ask the patient to change the prescription over phone

Correct Answer: Verify prescriber identity, confirm details, and log the call

Q28. Which action improves trust during doctor visits by pharmacy or industry staff?

• Exaggerate efficacy claims to impress
• Be transparent about limitations, conflicts of interest, and evidence
• Hide clinical limitations to avoid objections
• Disregard questions about safety

Correct Answer: Be transparent about limitations, conflicts of interest, and evidence

Q29. When a prescription contains unclear handwriting, the correct norm is to:

• Make an educated guess and dispense
• Contact the prescriber for clarification before dispensing
• Refuse to help and return the script
• Ask the patient to choose any medicine

Correct Answer: Contact the prescriber for clarification before dispensing

Q30. Which documentation practice is critical for audits after multiple doctor visits and calls?

• Maintain disorganized notes only on personal devices
• Keep complete, dated, and accessible records of visits, materials provided, and consent
• Rely solely on memory for past interactions
• Delete records to avoid scrutiny

Correct Answer: Keep complete, dated, and accessible records of visits, materials provided, and consent

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