# AMC MCQ Population Health Questions: 10 Free Practice MCQs

> 10 free AMC MCQ population health questions with answers and explanations, from a bank of 46 population health questions. Try them now, no sign up.

Canonical: https://medhub.one/practice/amc-mcq/population-health
Last updated: 2026-10-29

Ten AMC MCQ-style population health questions with the answer and the reasoning behind it. They come from the AU.med bank, which has 46 population health questions and many more across every topic.

1. 1 / 10  
An 82-year-old woman with mild cognitive impairment is brought to her GP by her son. She has multiple bruises on her forearms and is hesitant to speak. The son interrupts her frequently and handles her finances.  
What is the most appropriate initial step for the GP to take?  
Show answer

**Answer: B.** Interview the patient alone to assess for elder abuse and determine her safety.

**Why:** Suspected elder abuse should be evaluated by interviewing the patient privately. This allows the doctor to assess safety, capacity, and patient preferences without influence from family members.

  * **A.** Police involvement should respect patient autonomy unless there is immediate danger.
  * **C.** This fails to address safety concerns and suspected abuse.
  * **D.** Advising the son directly is inappropriate and unsafe for the patient.  
Sources: RACGP Elder Abuse Guidelines
2. 2 / 10  
A GP receives a positive laboratory result for Salmonella enteritidis in a stool sample from a 35-year-old food handler.  
What are the GP's statutory public health notification obligations in Australia?  
Show answer

**Answer: D.** Notify the state public health unit within the mandated timeframe for Salmonellosis.

**Why:** Salmonella enteritidis is a notifiable condition. In Australia, clinicians have a statutory duty to notify their state or territory public health department of designated communicable diseases to enable surveillance and outbreak control.

  * **A.** Notifying the employer directly violates patient confidentiality.
  * **B.** Both laboratories and clinicians have statutory duties to notify.
  * **C.** Notification is triggered by diagnosis, not clinical severity.  
Sources: State Public Health Act; National Notifiable Diseases List
3. 3 / 10  
A 54-year-old woman with a history of severe osteoarthritis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has had multiple admissions for exacerbations.  
What Medicare chronic disease management items are most appropriate to coordinate her multidisciplinary care?  
Show answer

**Answer: B.** GP Management Plan (GPMP - Item 721) and Team Care Arrangements (TCA - Item 723).

**Why:** A GPMP (Item 721) establishes a management plan for chronic conditions, and a TCA (Item 723) coordinates treatment with at least two allied health professionals, enabling Medicare-subsidised allied health visits.

  * **A.** These items do not coordinate care with allied health professionals.
  * **C.** These items are for mental health, not physical chronic diseases.
  * **D.** After-hours items are for acute care, not chronic disease planning.  
Sources: Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS)
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5. 4 / 10  
A 32-year-old smoker wishes to use nicotine e-cigarettes (vapes) to help him quit. He presents to his GP asking how to legally obtain them in Australia.  
What is the correct legal pathway for obtaining nicotine-containing vapes for therapeutic use?  
Show answer

**Answer: A.** They can only be purchased from a registered pharmacy with a doctor's prescription.

**Why:** In Australia, nicotine-containing e-cigarettes are prescription-only (Schedule 4) medicines when used for therapeutic purposes (such as smoking cessation). They must be dispensed by a pharmacy to patients with a valid prescription.

  * **B.** Commercial sale of nicotine vapes outside pharmacies is illegal.
  * **C.** Personal importation is restricted, and a local prescription is required.
  * **D.** They are legal for therapeutic smoking cessation with a prescription.  
Sources: Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Vaping Regulations
6. 5 / 10  
A 71-year-old man with controlled hypertension but no other co-morbidities presents for his annual review. He has never received a pneumococcal vaccine.  
What pneumococcal vaccine schedule is recommended and funded for him under the NIP?  
Show answer

**Answer: C.** A single dose of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (13vPCV - Prevenar 13).

**Why:** The National Immunisation Program (NIP) recommends a single dose of 13vPCV (Prevenar 13) for all non-Indigenous adults when they turn 70 years old, regardless of other medical conditions.

  * **A.** Routine 5-yearly dosing is not recommended under current guidelines.
  * **B.** Follow-up PPV is only for those with specific risk factors.
  * **D.** All adults aged 70 and older are recommended to receive it.  
Sources: Australian Immunisation Handbook
7. 6 / 10  
A 28-year-old woman who is 14 weeks pregnant attends her GP for a routine antenatal visit in April. Her blood pressure is 110/70 mmHg. She asks about the influenza vaccine.  
What is the recommended advice regarding influenza vaccination for this patient?  
Show answer

**Answer: C.** Administer the influenza vaccine now, as it is funded and safe at any stage of pregnancy.

**Why:** Inactivated influenza vaccine is safe at any stage of pregnancy and is fully funded under the National Immunisation Program (NIP) due to the high risk of severe influenza complications in pregnant women.

  * **A.** Vaccination should be given as soon as available to protect early.
  * **B.** The vaccine is safe and highly recommended during pregnancy.
  * **D.** Live vaccines are contraindicated in pregnancy; only inactivated vaccines are used.  
Sources: Australian Immunisation Handbook
8. 7 / 10  
A 16-year-old girl in a rural town requests the contraceptive pill. She asks if you will tell her parents.  
Under what principle can you treat her without parental consent?  
Show answer

**Answer: B.** Gillick Competence (mature minor)

**Why:** Under the Gillick competence doctrine, a minor under 18 years of age can consent to medical treatment (such as contraception) without parental consent if the medical practitioner assesses that she possesses sufficient maturity, intelligence, and understanding of the treatment and its consequences. Option A (parens patriae) refers to judicial jurisdiction. Option C is incorrect because legal adulthood in Australia is 18\. Option D is wrong because breaching confidentiality without consent or harm risk is unethical and unlawful.

  * **A.** Incorrect. Parens patriae refers to the court supreme jurisdiction to make decisions for minors, not a clinician clinical assessment of minor competence.
  * **C.** Incorrect. Legal adulthood in Australia is 18 years; at 16, independent consent relies on Gillick competence rather than adult age status.
  * **D.** Incorrect. Automatically informing parents without the competent minor consent violates doctor-patient confidentiality.  
Sources: RACGP Standards
9. 8 / 10  
An 80-year-old retired teacher with early Alzheimer's disease is brought by his daughter. She reports he recently scraped the car and got lost in his local neighborhood. On cognitive testing, his MMSE is 21/30.  
What is the most appropriate next step to assess his fitness to drive under Austroads guidelines?  
Show answer

**Answer: D.** Refer for a specialised occupational therapy driver assessment (OTDA).

**Why:** When cognitive decline or dementia is suspected and driving safety is in question (due to scrapes or disorientation), an Occupational Therapy Driver Assessment (OTDA) is the gold standard clinical pathway for evaluating driving safety.

  * **A.** License revocation should be based on formal assessment, not just diagnosis.
  * **B.** Having a passenger does not make driving safe with cognitive impairment.
  * **C.** Active driving safety issues require immediate action rather than delay.  
Sources: Austroads Assessing Fitness to Drive Guidelines
10. 9 / 10  
A 72-year-old former construction worker presents with progressive dyspnoea on exertion, dry cough, and pleural plaques visible on a chest X-ray. He has a history of occupational exposure to asbestos in the 1970s.  
What is the characteristic latency period and pathophysiology of mesothelioma compared to asbestosis?  
Show answer

**Answer: C.** Mesothelioma is a malignant neoplasm of the pleura with a latency period of 20-50 years.

**Why:** Asbestos exposure is associated with both asbestosis (interstitial lung fibrosis) and mesothelioma (a highly aggressive malignancy of the pleura or peritoneum). Both conditions have a long latency period (20-50 years).

  * **A.** Mesothelioma is highly malignant and has a very long latency.
  * **B.** Asbestosis is diffuse interstitial fibrosis and is not a malignancy.
  * **D.** Both conditions have long latency periods and different pathological features.  
Sources: Cancer Council Australia Guidelines on Asbestos
11. 10 / 10  
A 48-year-old male smoker with no personal history of cardiovascular disease has a blood pressure of 145/90 mmHg. His total cholesterol is 5.5 mmol/L and HDL is 1.0 mmol/L.  
What is the most appropriate next step to assess his cardiovascular risk?  
Show answer

**Answer: B.** Calculate his absolute cardiovascular risk using the Australian Cardiovascular Disease Risk Calculator.

**Why:** Primary prevention should be guided by absolute cardiovascular disease risk calculation, which integrates multiple risk factors (age, sex, BP, lipids, smoking status, diabetes) using the Australian CVD Risk Calculator.

  * **A.** Therapy should be based on absolute CVD risk assessment first.
  * **C.** Invasive or stress testing is not indicated for asymptomatic patients.
  * **D.** Aspirin is no longer recommended for routine primary prevention due to bleeding.  
Sources: Australian Guideline for Assessing and Managing Cardiovascular Disease Risk

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Exam-style questions written by MedHub for practice. They are not official exam questions.