Ethics in modern pharmaceutical practice

Abstract

Introduction: According to legal provisions and moral and ethical principles, pharmacists are required to contribute to improving the level and quality of health care services of their professional duties. Modern pharmaceutical practice in a community pharmacy setting presumes a pharmacist faced to many situations, when is required to see the right decisions to concern for the welfare of the patient. It carries a new kind of professional expectations and obligations, but may produce serious conflicts and ethical dilemmas as well. Objective: To describe the importance of professional ethics and knowledge of ethical codes, ethical principles and moral principles by pharmacists, and the ways of making decisions in situations where pharmacists encounter to the ethical problems in terms of contemporary pharmacy practice. Content analysis was performed and ethical problems solving was analyzed. Methods: We used a descriptive approach with desk research method of reviewing available data from different sources and literature. Results: Data from the literature say about the legal interpretation of the ethical problems in practice and poor knowledge of the codes by pharmacists. By the analysis of codes, four basic principles were established: beneficence, safety, justice and autonomy. In ethical situations, pharmacists are in the state of moral anxiety based on agitation and moral conflict. There are several ways of making moral decisions. Conclusion: It is necessary to educate pharmacists in terms of knowledge of ethical codes and making distinctions with legal problems. It is necessary to develop an awareness of the importance of professional ethics and how to improve the moral decision-making.

Uvod: Farmaceuti su dužni da doprinesu poboljšanju nivoa zdravstvene zaštite i poboljšanju kvaliteta zdravstvenih usluga obavljajući svoje profesionalne zadatke u skladu sa zakonskim propisima, ali i moralnim načelima i etičkim principima. U javnoj apoteci, farmaceut se suočava sa velikim brojem situacija u kojima je potrebno da odluči šta je ispravno, u cilju staranja za dobrobit pacijenta, što donosi sa sobom i nova očekivanja i obaveze u profesionalnom smislu, a što bi moglo da prouzrokuje ozbiljne konflikte i etičke dileme. Cilj: Prikazati značaj profesionalne etike i poznavanja etičkih kodeksa, etičkih principa i moralnih načela od strane farmaceuta, kao i načine donošenja odluka u situacijama kada se farmaceuti suoče sa etičkim problemom u uslovima savremene farmaceutske prakse. Specifični ciljevi su: sadržajna analiza etičkih kodeksa i razmatranje načina prevazilaženja etičkih problema u farmaceutskoj praksi. Metod: Ovo je deskriptivno istraživanje u kome se koristi metoda desk analize sekundarnih podataka. Rezultati: Podaci iz literature govore o pravnom tumačenju etičkih problema u praksi i slabom poznavanju kodeksa od strane farmaceuta. Analizom kodeksa utvrđeno je postojanje 4 osnovna principa: dobročinstvo, neškodljivost, pravičnosti autonomija. U etičkim situacijama farmaceuti se nalaze u stanju moralne uznemirenosti u čijoj osnovi je anksioznost i moralni konflikt. Postoji više načina donošenja moralne odluke. Zaključak: Potrebno je edukovati farmaceute, razviti svest o značaju profesionalne etike i unaprediti način donošenja moralne odluke.