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MCQs Vocational Training: Stage 2
Medical Gas Training Questions
1. What does MGPS stand for?
(a) Medical gas pipeline system
(b) Major gas pipe system
(c) Medical gas pipeline scheme
(d) Medical gas pipe storage
2. What gases are commonly found in a hospital?
(a) Acetylene
(b) Oxygen
(c) Nitrous oxide
(d) Surgical air
3. What is Equanox?
(a) Oxygen 25% Nitrous Oxide 75%
(b) Medical Air 50% Oxygen 50%
(c) Oxygen 50% Nitrous Oxide 50%
(d) Surgical Air 50% Oxygen 50%
4. Why is oxygen used in hospitals?
(a) To drive ventilators
(b) To sustain life
(c) As an analgesic
(d) As an anaesthetic
5. What standards and guidance documents are used to govern the use of piped medical
gases in hospitals?
(a) European Pharmacopoeia
(b) Health and Technical Memorandum 02-01
(c) Health and Teaching Module 2022
(d) (s)HTM 2022
6. What documentation provides guidance for the safe use of medical gas cylinders?
(a) C11
(b) B12
(c) A10
(d) X13
7. What features of a cylinder store are required to facilitate safe storage of cylinders?
(a) Separate storage of full and empty cylinders
(b) Separate storage of different medical gas cylinders
(c) “No naked flame” signage
(d) Locked
8. What colour is an oxygen cylinder?
(a) White body / black shoulders
(b) Black body / white shoulders
(c) Blue body / white shoulders
(d) Grey body / black and white quartered shoulders
9. What colour is a medical air cylinder?
(a) Black body / white shoulders
(b) Blue body / white and blue shoulders
(c) Grey body / black shoulders
(d) Grey body / black and white quartered shoulders
10. What colour is an Equanox cylinder?
(a) Blue body / blue shoulders
(b) Black body / white shoulders
(c) Blue body / white and blue shoulders
(d) Grey body / grey shoulders
11. What details can be found on a cylinder label?
(a) Product licence number
(b) Cylinder volume
(c) Safety precautions
(d) Batch number and expiry date
12. What precautions should be taken when handling cylinders?
(a) Wear gloves
(b) Roll cylinders on ground
(c) Use a suitably sized trolley
(d) Wear training shoes
13. Where can cylinders be found in a hospital?
(a) Manifold rooms
(b) Cylinder stores
(c) Resuscitation trolleys
(d) Theatres
14. Where is liquid oxygen stored on a hospital site?
(a) Oxygen tank (VIE)
(b) Cylinder store
(c) Oxygen tank (VIP)
(d) Oxygen tanker
15. What does VIE stand for ?
(a) Vacuum insulated evaporator
(b) Vessel insulated evaporator
(c) Vacuum isolated evaporator
(d) Vessel isolated engineering
16. What document controls engineering work carried out on a MGPS?
(a) Permit to work
(b) Permission to work
(c) Permit to weld
(d) Permission to weld
17. With reference to medical gases, what do the initials AP stand for?
(a) Authorised pharmacist
(b) Authorised person
(c) Accredited person
(d) Accredited personnel
18. What is the role of the AP?
(a) To be responsible for the day to day operation of the MGPS
(b) To issue “permit to work” documents
(c) To assess the competency of engineers working on a medical gas line
(d) To liaise with all staff involved in medical gas systems
19. Which of the following activities form part of the role of the Quality Controller (MGPS)?
(a) Carries out medical gas testing
(b) Carries out engineering tests on a medical gas pipeline system
(c) Accepts responsibility for the last independent check on a pipeline system following work
on the pipeline
(d) Undertakes CPD on medical gases
20. What pressure are medical gases maintained at in a MGPS in a ward?
(a) 2 Bar
(b) 3 Bar
(c) 4 Bar
(d) 5 Bar
21. What material is a medical gas pipeline system made from?
22. (a) Copper
(b) Brass
(c) Plastic
(d) Tin
23. To what part of the MGPS is a flow meter attached?
(a) End point
(b) Terminal unit
(c) Terminal point
(d) Test point
24. When are tests carried out on the MGPS?
(a) Following any interruption in supply
(b) Following installation of a new system
(c) On a quarterly basis on a medical air compressor
(d) Following the routine maintenance of a terminal unit
25. What tests are routinely carried out by the Quality Controller (MGPS) on each terminal unit of each gas tested?
(a) Purity and identity of the gas
(b) Particulate contamination testing
(c) Carbon dioxide levels
(d) Temperature
26. When testing the identity and purity of an oxygen pipeline, what is the limit for oxygen
concentration?
(a) > 60%
(b) > 90%
(c) >95%
(d) >99.5%
27. What does a “polytest” tube detect?
28. (a) Non specific contamination
(b) Temperature
(c) Gas concentration
(d) Particles
29. What is the acceptance criteria for oxygen concentration in medical/surgical air (Ph. Eur.)?
(a) 19% to 24%
(b) 20.4% to 21.4%
(c) 21.0% to 22.0%
(d) 20.0% to 22.0%
30. What additional tests are carried out on a medical air pipeline system – other than identity
and purity and particulate contamination ?
(a) Carbon dioxide
(b) Carbon monoxide
(c) Water vapour
(d) Sulphur monoxide
31. Which gas undergoes a test for oil contamination?
(a) Nitrous oxide
(b) Oxygen
(c) Medical air
(d) Equanox
32. In an emergency, what can be used to isolate the pipeline supply?
(a) Area Valve Service Unit (AVSU)
(b) Terminal unit
(c) Flow meter
(d) Regulator
33. Where can medical gas alarm panels be found?
(a) Theatres
(b) Switchboard
(c) Clinics
(d) Wards
34. What do medical gas alarm panels detect?
(a) An increase in temperature
(b) A change in gas identity
(c) Loss of pressure
(d) Change in volume of gas being used by a patient
35. In the event of loss of gas supply, who will be informed?
(a) Authorised Person
(b) Operational services
(c) Nursing staff
(d) Pharmacy
34. In the event of loss of supply of gas in an emergency, what are the priorities?
(a) To prevent any clinical adverse event due to loss of medical gas supply
(b) To ensure back up supplies are made available when required
(c) To effect appropriate repair
(d) To complete an incident report
35. What information does an operational policy contain?
(a) Description of medical gas pipeline system
(b) Contact details of Estates Authorised Persons
(c) Action to be taken in an emergency
(d) Cylinder storage areas
36. Why is Equanox used in a hospital?
37. (a) To sustain life
(b) As an analgesic
(c) As an anaesthetic
(d) To drive ventilators
38. What is the acceptance level for suction / vacuum?
(a) > 400mm Hg
(b) > 600mm Hg
(c) < 400mm Hg
(d) < 200mm Hg
39. What colour is an oxygen theatre pendant hose?
(a) Black
(b) White
(c) Blue
(d) Yellow
40. What colour is an oxygen terminal unit?
(a) Black / white
(b) Blue / white
(c) White
(d) Blue
40. What colour is a medical air terminal unit?
(a) Black / white
(b) Blue / white
(c) Blue
(d) Yellow
41. Which of the statements are true?
(a) Surgical air is supplied at a higher pressure than medical air because it is used to operate equipment
(b) Medical air is supplied at a higher pressure than surgical air because it is required to be higher for patient care
(c) The main use of medical gases is to sustain life
(d) Medical gases are medicines used for treatment of and diagnosis of disease
42. Which statements best describes the use of the medical gases?
(a) Nitrous oxide is used for clinical and physiological investigations [e.g. gastric procedures]
(b) Nitrous oxide is used as anaesthetic gas
(c) Heliox mixture is used to diagnose and treat chronic obstructive airways disease
(d) The helium in Heliox aids the administration of oxygen due to the lower specific gravity of the helium enabling
the oxygen to pass by the obstructions
43. Which of the statements are true?
The liquid oxygen on a hospital site;
(a) May be stored in a Vaccum Insulated Evaporator (VIE)
(b) May be stored in a liquid oxygen duty tank of a size that contains approximately 14 days supply when used at a rate of general usage
(c) May be stored in a liquid oxygen standby tank that has 2-3 days supply of oxygen when used at a rate of general usage
(d) Is converted in the VIE to a gas that is at a pressure of 13 Bar
44. Which of the statements are true?
When inspecting a cylinder store;
(a) The small cylinders should be stored standing up
(b) The Oxygen 50%:Nitrous Oxide 50% (Equanox) cylinders should be stored horizontally to ensure adequate mixing of the two gases
(c) The store should be joined to the hospital to ensure easy access
(d) The cylinders should be segregated by type and by whether they
are full or empty
(e) If rubbish has collected within the store, it is satisfactory to remove this when the store is next cleaned
(f) The door of the store should be kept open to help the porters gain access quickly
(g) There should be a sign clearly displayed that indicates there should be no naked flames
(h) There is only a need to record the issue of cylinders
45. Think about control systems with gases, which statements are true or false?
(a) The Health Technical Memorandum 02-01 issued by the Dept. of Health provides medical gas guidance that should be adhered to
(b) Amending a pipeline requires no paperwork to be signed off, just the ward sister’s say so
(c) A Permit to Work system controls all work on medical gas pipeline systems
(d) The first person to sign the documentation is the QC Pharmacist
(e) The Authorised Person is the engineer who must follow Health and Safety legislation when welding copper pipe on a MGPS
(f) Engineers carry out pressure tests and anti-confusion tests on the MGPS following any break in to the pipeline system
(g) The Competent Person is the nurse who gives the go ahead for the gas supply to be interrupted
(h) QC (MGPS) are the last people to work on the MGPS. They carry out clinical checks to ensure that it is the correct gas, from the
correct terminal unit of the correct purity and quality before the pipeline is handed back to the users
46. Which statements are true and which are false when describing the role
of the clinical pharmacist with medical gases?
(a) The clinical pharmacist should check that oxygen is prescribed correctly
(b) The clinical pharmacist should leave the nurses on the ward to monitor any wastage with medical gases
(c) The clinical pharmacist should, if ‘on call’ in the event of a medical gas emergency, radiopage the ‘on call QC Pharmacist’ and then
leave them in peace to get on with it
(d) The clinical pharmacist should check that ward staff are using flow meters properly
47. Which statements are true and which are false when describing the role
of the Quality Controller (MGPS) after an incident on a ward involving medical gases?
(a) They will check that the line pressure is 4bar
(b) They will check that there is water vapour present in the line
(c) They will check that there is no non specific contamination
(d) They will check that it is the correct gas and of the correct purity
(e) They will check that there is no particulate matter in the line
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