Community Pharmacists’ Perceptions on Ethical Dilemmas, Pharmacy values and Decision-making

Abstract

Background: Ethics can be predisposed by an individual's values, education, social activities, professional activities, belief, and individual's need. Objective: This study was designed to find out the dilemma in handling ethical issues at community pharmacy settings; to find out the frequency of ethical dilemma at community pharmacy settings; to find out the reasons why community pharmacists may compromise ethical values; to find out how frequent the community pharmacists are involved in ethical dilemma situations. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted using a validated self-administered questionnaire from March 2016 to December 2017. The participants were selected using a multi-stage cluster random sampling. Results: In this study, 1057 community pharmacists were approached to participate in this study. Out of this, 742 community pharmacists responded by completing the questionnaire. The response rate in this study is 70.19%. More than half of the issues given were measured as "difficult" and "very difficult" by the community pharmacists. The most common ethical dilemma was fear of breaking trustworthiness which strongly impacts the pharmacist-physician collaborations. 'Carry out patient's request' 'physician's orders' and 'employer`s request' were the reasons of community pharmacists compromising the ethical values. Conclusion: Community pharmacists are confronted with numerous ethical problems in their daily work. Most of the pharmacists face the ethical dilemma situations at least once a week in their pharmacies. Community pharmacists compromise on their values and ethical issues not only because of patient's or physician's request but also because of their employers' intrusion.

The effect of demographic and social factors on the decision-making of community pharmacists in ethical dilemmas

“…Questionnaire items were constructed by conducting an extensive literature review. [5678] The questionnaire was constructed in English as healthcare professionals have English proficiency. The questionnaire consisted of two sections.…”

“…[5] Community pharmacists compromise on their values and ethical issues not only because of patient's or physician's request but also because of their employers' intrusion. [6] “Community pharmacists' understanding of ethics, confidentiality, patient autonomy, trustworthiness, and reliability may be the dynamics that affect community pharmacists' values which may influence their decision-making during ethical dilemmas.”[7] All these studies reported on gatekeeping processes, ethical constructs, and passivity by community pharmacists. A study reported that “age” and “work experience” may impact ethical dilemma.…”

Assessment of Good Pharmacy Practice among Community Pharmacist and their Perceptions on Ethical Dilemmas

“…1 Nowadays community pharmacists providing plenty of services include dispensing, patient counseling and ADR monitoring under the guidance of a registered medical practitioner. 2 Good Pharmacy Practice is a practice provided by pharmacists in a pharmacy setting that meet the requirements of the patients who utilize these facilities to attain intact treatment outcome. The intend of GPP is to give drugs and health related services to the public.…”

“…These ethical guidelines help the profession and professionals from misconduct and ethical violation. 2 Prescription drugs, OTC drugs, and other medical devices in the community pharmacy are dispensed by a qualified pharmacist. There are a lot of ethical issues found in the dispensing and administration of these products.…”

“…[114] CODEN (USA): JDDTAO administration and storage of drugs along with dispensing the medicines. 2 The pharmacist should beware of Ethical dilemmas in the community pharmacy settings. The physicians and pharmaceutical companies are having a greater role in contriving the pharmacist for violating the rules and ethics, since pharmacists are the aqueduct between pharmaceutical firms and prescriber.…”