Principles of Pharmaceutical Ethics

Principles of Pharmaceutical Ethics

· The pharmacist should be a good and law-abiding citizen conversant with Acts and Rules governing his/her profession.

· He/she should be a person with an attitude of service and sacrifice and concern for welfare of both patients and public.

· The pharmacist must be capable of upholding honour and dignity of the profession and not getting involved in any action which may bring disrepute the profession.

· The pharmacist should never disclose any information about patient or his family which he/she has acquired as part of professional activities, unless required to do so by law.

· The pharmacist should not get involved in any unethical work under duress or pressure.

· Unethical and cut-throat publicity of professional services offered by the pharmacist are against basic values of the profession. The pharmacist should not get involved in such unethical practices.

· The pharmacist should offer services directly to the public in his/ her own premises which reflect the professional character of pharmacy.

· The pharmacist should receive the prescription of a doctor without any comment or discussion over it. He/She should not add, omit or substitute any content of the prescription without the consent of the prescriber. He/She should answer any questions on the prescriber to the customers with caution and core. In case of any error in the prescription, it should be referred back to the prescriber for correction.

· The pharmacist should keep himself/herself abreast with the progress of pharmaceutical knowledge in order to maintain high standard of professional competence. He/She should exchange such information with fellow pharmacist.

· The pharmacist as an integral component of health care team should always endeavour to cooperate with doctors, nurses and other members of health care system.

· The pharmacist should possess good communication skills to be able to work closely with other health care providers.

· The pharmacist should help the client with personal consultation and about proper use of medicines and other health care products. The information provided must be clear, understandable, correct, up-to-date and explicit.

· The pharmacist should be alert to occurrence of adverse effects of medicine and same should be recorded in the individual patient medication record.

· The pharmacist should be an active member of all professional associations or organizations which are established with an objective of sincerely serving the cause of the profession.

The chariot of health care system is driven by four giant wheels represented by doctors, pharmacists, nurses and other paramedical personnel. So long as the four wheels of the chariot are co-axial, the chariot of health care shall march steadily on the path of prosperity and good health. The moment there is imbalance in mobility of the chariot due to defect in one of the wheels, the chariot is bound to collapse mid-way, and the dream of attaining excellence in health remains unfulfilled.