One important part of the boards as a Pharmacist includes knowing a states individual pharmacy related laws. This can sometimes be tricky for students because the law is never truly black and white and can differ a lot compared to federal laws.
One big rule when it comes to laws in the USA, is to always follow the most stringent or strictest law. Usually state laws are more strict than federal but sometimes the opposite can happen. For instance in Florida pharmacy law, hydrocodone in combination with non-narcotic ingredients is considered a schedule III drug, however federally any hydrocodone product was ruled as a schedule II drug. In this case, one would have to follow the federal law because it is more strict, hence hydrocodone in any form is a scheduled II drug.
Studying for MPJE was not fun.. but i’m super glad to have it behind me. Here are some study tips I recommend when it comes to preparing for the pharmacy law exam:
- Go to the DEA website and print out the list of controlled substances with their respective brand/generic names and schedules, you can find it by clicking here It is highly recommended to know this list very well especially the common controlled substances you see out in practice. One unique thing I found when reviewing this list was that amobarbital (a barbiturate) is listed as a schedule II drug, however when it is in suppository form it is considered a schedule III drug.
- READ through ALL your states statutes, I highly recommend going through all the statutes because you never know… something you glanced at in your reading might be asked on the exam
- Pay specific attention to labeling/prescription requirements, pharmacy personnel roles (i.e. what a pharmacy intern can do etc.), laws surrounding controlled substances, continuing education requirements for certain pharmacist or pharmacy technician licenses, who is authorized to prescribe within the state and what the laws are surrounding that
- When taking the exam it is important to pay close attention to HOW the question is being asked and to specific words such as “MUST” ,”SHALL” and “REQUIRE”
- Also when studying make sure to pay attention to differences and what is not required, for example by law there are certain things that MUST be placed on a prescription bottle label for a controlled substance, however it is super important to also know what is NOT a MUST so that it makes answering questions on the exam easier.
- I highly recommend practicing with some questions, PreMPJE has a great variety of question banks that you can use to test your knowledge, each test consists of 90 questions however it does come with a price, if you only want one test it is $49, for 4 tests its is $59.00 and for 8 tests it is $96.00. You can find more information on their website by clicking here.
Good luck to everyone preparing, remember confidence is key for this exam, study hard and DO NOT doubt yourself! Sorry for being MIA on the blog posts recently I have been pretty busy with residency thus far but promise to be pushing out more content.
— Ms Rx Geek