Cardiology Pharmacy Sample Examination Items

These sample examination items are made available by BPS for the purposes of familiarizing certification candidates and other stakeholders with the structure and format of BPS certification examinations. This is not meant for use as a self-assessment. Performance on any of these items does not correlate with performance on the actual examination.

The content of these examples is meant to be illustrative of actual examination items, but these items do not appear on the certification examination and are not meant to identify the scope of the examination. For a more comprehensive indication of the scope of each certification examination, please refer to the Exam Content Outline for each specialty area.

Examination items are in multiple-choice format. The great majority of examination items are multiple-choice with a single response from among four options. Some examinations may include a small percentage of items that require selection of multiple (three or four) responses from among a larger set of available (up to eight) options. Examinations items may also be supplemented by an image.

A patient is brought to the emergency department for an acute ischemic stroke. The patient is considered a candidate for thrombolytic therapy, but has a history of uncontrolled hypertension. What blood pressure level must be achieved before an intravenous thrombolytic can be administered?

Less than 180/105 mm Hg
Less than 185/110 mm Hg
Less than 190/105 mm Hg
Less than 200/110 mm Hg

Correct!

Incorrect!

A primary care physician asks the pharmacist for recommendations to initiate anti-hypertensive therapy for a 60-year-old with a past medical history of hypertension and dyslipidemia. Vital signs consist of a blood pressure of 172/94 mm Hg and a heart rate of 52 bpm.


Notable laboratory values available are:






















SCr 1.1 mg/dL
BUN 19 mg/dL
K 3.5 mEq/L
Na 138 mEq/L
LFTs are within normal limits

Which initial strategy would be the best available option for this patient?

Amlodipine 5 mg daily and chlorthalidone 25 mg daily
Atenolol 25 mg daily and chlorthalidone 12.5 mg daily
Lisinopril 10 mg daily and amlodipine 5 mg daily
Lisinopril 20 mg daily and atenolol 25 mg daily

Correct!

Incorrect!

A patient with a history of diabetes mellitus, estimated 10-year ASCVD risk of 14.6%, is currently on simvastatin 40 mg daily for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. After 6 weeks of therapy, LDL-C is 112 mg/dL (baseline LDL-C was 155 mg/dL). Which intervention is most appropriate?

Add fenofibrate 160 mg daily
Change simvastatin to atorvastatin 40 mg daily
Change simvastatin to rosuvastatin 5 mg daily
Increase simvastatin to 80 mg daily

Correct!

Incorrect!

The nurse manager of a cardiovascular patient care area asks a pharmacist to contribute a medication-related section for the monthly newsletter to the nursing staff. Which would provide the most value?

A review of five commonly used cardiovascular medications with significant cytochrome P450 interactions with amiodarone
A summary of the subgroups of patients that did not benefit from a new cardiovascular medication in a recently published clinical trial
A table showing the half lives and modes of elimination of each of the beta blockers
An overview of the most common patient-reported adverse effects of a new cardiovascular medication that has been added to the formulary

Correct!

Incorrect!

Which statement regarding the use of intention-to-treat analysis within a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial is accurate?

There is a higher likelihood that a statistically significant difference will be demonstrated
Patients with a deviation from the study treatment protocol are eliminated from all analyses
Patients randomized to the study drug group who are nonadherent are included in the study drug group for analysis
Patients randomized to the placebo group who are removed from the trial due to adverse effects are also removed from the placebo group for analysis

Correct!

Incorrect!

A clinical trial reports that a chi-square test was used to evaluate data. Which type of data would this test most likely compare?

Ratio
Ordinal
Nominal
Interval

Correct!

Incorrect!

In a large heart failure prevention trial, the following data were obtained: on placebo, 640 out of 2117 (30.2%) patients developed symptomatic heart failure; on enalapril, 438 out of 2111 (20.7%) patients developed heart failure. What is the number of patients that needed to be treated with enalapril to prevent one case of heart failure?

3
9
11
31

Correct!

Incorrect!

A patient is being discharged from the hospital on warfarin for treatment of a venous thromboembolism (VTE). What must be documented as a part of the discharge instructions for this patient to meet The Joint Commission standards?

Document showing an image of the warfarin dosage form and dosing regimen
Importance of avoiding foods with Vitamin K
Phone number of the health professional, clinic, or office monitoring warfarin therapy
Signed document stating patient viewed the warfarin educational video

Correct!

Incorrect!

A health system is designing patient education materials focused on the primary prevention of ASCVD among patients with hypertension. The focus of these materials is healthy lifestyle interventions. Which concept should be included in these educational materials?

Engage in moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity three to four times weekly
Limit dietary cholesterol to less than 200 mg daily
Start low dose aspirin at 81 mg daily
Take a fish oil supplement that contains 1,000 mg of docosahexaenoic acid / eicosapentaenoic acid daily

Correct!

Incorrect!

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Cardiology Pharmacy Sample Questions

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