Moral dilemmas reflect professional core values of pharmacists in community pharmacy

Abstract

Objectives The aim was to recognise the professional core values in the moral dilemmas of pharmacists in community pharmacy and to customise the descriptions of these values for community pharmacy practice. Methods The narratives of 128 moral dilemmas, collected from Dutch PharmD students and early career pharmacists who experienced these dilemmas in practice, were qualitatively analysed. An expert panel deductively coded relevant portions of these narratives with the core values as formulated by the Royal Dutch Pharmacists Association. Other values that emerged were inductively coded and if possible used to further customise the respective core values. Key findings The expert panel identified all four professional core values, that is, commitment to the patient's well‐being (117, 91.4%), reliable and caring (116, 90.6%), pharmaceutical expertise (72, 56.2%) and responsibility to society (30, 23.4%) in the 128 moral dilemma narratives. Thirteen other values that emerged in the analysis could all be used for the customisation of the professional core values in descriptions that better reflect community pharmacy practice. Conclusions Professional core values were identified in moral dilemma narratives of pharmacists in community pharmacy and customised for their practice. These customised core values can enable pharmacists to better recognise moral dilemmas in practice. This can add to the advancement of the profession as a pharmaceutical care practice.

Moral reasoning among Dutch community pharmacists: testing the applicability of the Australian Professional Ethics in Pharmacy test

“…The charter states the profession's core values, which guide pharmacists working in all sectors in the Netherlands. Commitment to the patient's well-being, which includes protecting the patient's rights, is an important value, but so are societal responsibility, being reliable and caring, pharmaceutical expertise and professional autonomy [40]. One core value is not more important than another.…”

“…Apparently, different statements representing the post-conventional moral reasoning schema triggered the pharmacists in both countries, suggesting variation in underlying beliefs and cognitions and pharmacy practice context. This is surprising as in both countries pharmacists have a patient-centred pharmaceutical care practice as their highest goal [40,41]. However, the variation may come from differences in professional guidance (e.g.…”

Ethical Issues and Values in Pharmacy Practice

“…Values encompass many other objectives already embraced by the healthcare, such as: quality, safety, focus on patients, cost containment and their integration. Kruijtbosch et al [27] suggested the following values as foundational to pharmacy practice as well as any other healthcare practice: self-determination, compassion, justice, respect for persons, commitment to integrity and ethical practice and commitment to excellence [27,33].Values could be important for the study of pharmacists' behaviour because they could help us understand attitudes, perceptions and motivations. Also, perception of ethical issues could be affected by the values of pharmacists.…”

Assessment of Community Pharmacy Professionals’ Attitude and Perception Towards Ethical Issues in Amhara Region, Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Survey 2020

“…6,[14][15][16][17] An "ethical dilemma" is operationalized as a "situation in which there is a choice between at least two courses of action, neither of which is morally correct". 18 Community pharmacy professionals in different countries are experiencing frequent and complex ethical dilemmas which compromise ethical pharmacy practice. 6,8,15,[19][20][21] They often run a commercial matter nearby their work sites which further augment the dilemmas.…”