PSA 2020 delivery during COVID-19 pandemic
The Medical Schools Council (MSC) and British Pharmacological Society (BPS) would like to thank all medical school staff and students for their patience whilst awaiting news about the delivery of the Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA) 2020 diet during the COVID-19 pandemic.
PSA 2020 Delivery
We are pleased to be able to confirm that:
- the PSA will be offered to students on the same dates as previously announced (11th May and 5th June 2020)
- candidates affected by self-isolation and social distancing policies will be allowed to sit the assessment at home or at another location of their choosing
- the assessments will be delivered using the standard on-line PSA interface which allows for events to be set up and delivered securely and flexibly in multiple locations
- candidates will be responsible for ensuring that they have the appropriate IT requirements in place to access the assessment (successful access to the practice papers should give reassurance that this is the case)
- candidates will be given access to their event for a defined time window
- candidates will have access to the on-line NICE (UK only) and Medicines Complete BNF as usual; paper copies of the BNF are permitted but will not be supplied centrally
- where possible, usual examination regulations will apply – new guidance for these exceptional events is being developed
- security measures to protect the item bank for future cohorts of students are being drawn up
- candidates suspected of academic misconduct will be dealt with via the usual university mechanisms
Medical students who are prevented from sitting the PSA in Spring 2020
It is recognised that the current situation is likely to prevent some students from sitting the PSA prior to graduation. We would like to reassure affected candidates that we will work with medical and foundation schools and the UK Foundation Programme Office to ensure that all candidates and institutions are supported to minimise disruption to candidates’ career progression throughout this exceptional period. As is usual, all candidates who have not passed the PSA prior to graduation will be eligible to sit the foundation school sitting for FP2020 entrants on Tuesday 8 September 2020.
Potential additional Foundation School sitting on 5 June
Where possible, Foundation trainees should be offered the option to sit the PSA on 11 May. Where this is not possible, we can offer an additional sitting for Foundation trainees on 5 June (usually this is reserved for medical schools).