New Code Raises Standards of Pharmaceutical Ethics and Practice in UK Essay Example for Free

New Code Raises Standards of Pharmaceutical Ethics and Practice in UK Essay 1. Introduction Pharmacists play a role in the public health system and the provision of medical care public health system as critical as that of physicians. Most of the time, pharmacists only fill the prescriptions coming from physicians, but pharmacists often need to prescribe and dispense medicines on their own, especially over-the-counter drugs that people usually use for self-medication of common ailments.   With less prudence and circumspection, pharmacists may prescribe medicines that do more harm than good.   In recognition of these potential threats to the integrity of the pharmaceutical profession, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) has developed a new code of ethics and performance framework, which provide that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in the whole of UK receive quality education necessary for fostering the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to provide a consistent and safe practice. In formulating the new pharmaceutical code of ethics, the Society, as the RPSGB is more popularly known in UK, noted how the profession has been smeared by controversies involving some of its members, regarding issues on assisted suicide, making a prescription error, sedating an unruly patient, dispensing high-cost drugs and recommending treatment that would allow parole7,,8.  Ã‚   This paper discusses the revised code of ethics for British pharmacists and pharmacy technicians as to the likelihood of its lifting the professional practice of pharmacy to new heights of ethical proficiency and integrity. 2. Literature Review The requirements of the revised code reflect key issues for modern pharmacy practice, such as encouraging patients to be involved in decisions about their care, respecting patient choice and working in partnership with other healthcare professionals8.   All the provisions of the code are supposed to reflect in the conduct, practice and performance of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, designed as it is to promote and support a culture of accountability and professional judgment.  Ã‚   For this reason, the code sets out seven principles of ethical practice that pharmacists or pharmacy technicians need to observe in the pursuit of their profession.   2.1. Key Principles The revised code of ethics is based on seven principles, each of which is supported by requirements that explain the types of actions and behaviors expected of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians when applying said principles in practice. The seven principles are: 1) make the care of patients the pharmacist’s first concern; 2) exercise professional judgment in the interests of patients and the public, 3) show respect for others, 4) encourage patients to participate in decisions about their care, 5) develop professional knowledge and competence, 6) be honest and trustworthy, and 7) take responsibility for your working practices. Unlike previous versions, detailed standards and guidance will be produced separately from the code. Seven professional standards and guidance documents have also been developed to support and expand on the principles of the new code of ethics in the following areas: †¢ Patient consent †¢ Patient confidentiality †¢ Sale and supply of medicines †¢ Pharmacist prescribers †¢ Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in positions of authority †¢ Advertising †¢ Internet pharmacy This means that people are forbidden to accept pharmaceutical work when they do not possess the necessary skills and competence7.   If they do have the proper knowledge and experience, the code says that the pharmacist should start work by establishing the scope of his role and responsibilities and clarifying any ambiguities or uncertainties about where his responsibilities lie.   In addition to complying with his legal and professional obligations, the pharmacist is also expected to keep up to date with and observe the laws, statutory codes and professional obligations relevant to his particular responsibilities8.   2.2. Role and Responsibilities If subject is a pharmacy owner, superintendent pharmacist or pharmacy manager in a hospital, trust, or other field of practice, the code obliges him to set the standards and policies for the provision of pharmacy services by his organization.   The idea is to make the organization – its premises, departments or facilities – properly maintained so that none of its activities would bring the pharmaceutical profession into disrepute.   For this purpose, all the medicines, pharmaceutical ingredients, devices and other stocks at the pharmacy premises or facilities are stored under conditions appropriate to the nature and stability of these products.  Ã‚   In hiring people, management of a pharmacy must conduct background check to ensure that they are qualified for the job and have no criminal records1. The code deems it important that the people employed in a pharmacy are conscientious enough to raise concerns about risks to patients or the public.   Thus, the pharmacy should emplace an appropriate and effective mechanism for staff to raise concerns about risks to patients or the public, including concerns about inadequate resources, policies and procedures, or problems with the health, behavior or the professional performance of others.   2.3. Ethical Development Ethical practice in any profession is commonly perceived to be the outcome of good education and training.   However, studies in the UK context reveal that classroom discussion and experiential clerkship training have no significant impact on the ethical decisions that pharmacists make later3.   In an interview of pharmacy students regarding parole and drug rationing, it was found that majority would recommend treatment to allow parole and restrict the use of expensive drugs6. The ethical choice here is between the benefits to the patient and the risks or costs to society. On physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia, few students expressed willingness to dispense any lethal dose of medication to terminally ill patients.   In cases of unruly patients, however, more students would dispense the appropriate sedative.   These responses give rise to questions so to whether pharmacy students are trained to be patient-focused in their future practice3. The code also specifies training on such aspects of pharmaceutical practice as good consultation skills and meticulous record keeping.   To the code, it matters if pharmacists forget to ask questions in a medication review or in dispensing a repeat prescription; or misinterpret body language and miss cues from patients about emerging problems. The reason is that pharmacists may be the only healthcare professional the patient is seeing routinely so it matters if they miss something or handle a clinical situation poorly.   2.4. Advertised Drugs A recent randomized controlled trial using model patients found that patient requests for advertised drugs were a stronger determinant of prescribing decisions than whether or not the patient had the condition the drug aimed to treat2. Another study of prescribing decisions in response to patient requests found that if a patient asks for an advertised brand, he usually receives it, although the physician is more likely to be ambivalent about these prescribing decisions6. These studies suggest a need for physicians and pharmacists to receive adequate training on how to respond to patient requests. The global withdrawal of the drug Rofecoxib from the market in 2004 illustrates this point. Rofecoxib was no more effective than alternative non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in treating the symptoms of arthritis but it was widely promoted as safer and accepted by the public as such. Although there were studies that it brought the side effect of increased heart disease risks, the drug made it big in the market, with 80 million prescriptions worldwide3.   The market success of the drug is a testament to the triumph of marketing over science.   Only after the US Food and Drug Administration reported 35,000 cases of cardiac arrests and a congressional investigation was consequently held that the drug was pulled out.   The incident highlighted the need to ensure that health professionals are adequately prepared to evaluate promotional claims, and to assess and understand interactions with the pharmaceutical industry2. 3. Discussion Educators in many countries are clearly aware of the influence of pharmaceutical promotion on the health professions and wish to prepare students for this aspect of their professional lives. As a physician educator from India said, â€Å"†¦Whatever rational things we want to inculcate in them, that should be done in the student period itself. Once they taste big money then habits develop and later die hard9.†Ã‚   This is precisely the habit the code of ethics for UK pharmacists seeks to discourage. On pharmacy education, the literature agrees that there is no consistent, well-designed and deliberate approach to teaching students ethics during clerkship. Moreover, it has been observed that factors such as life experiences and normal maturation are likely to contribute to the students ethical development.   Acknowledging these limitations, the code simply seeks to determine if there were noticeable changes in the ethical decisions made by students at different points in their education. Since it was seen that classroom and clerkship experiences do not impact on the ethical decisions made by pharmacy students, the code encourages pharmacy schools to attend to this problem.   On top of the proposed agenda is a revision of the curriculum such that it can provide a deliberate and consistent ethical component to the clerkship experience5. A review of ethics literature in medicine and pharmacy found that pharmacy schools lag considerably behind medical schools in the integration of ethics into the curriculum1.   Additionally, medical schools were found to use a more patient-oriented approach to teaching ethics.   It is believed that a patient-oriented, clerkship-based approach could enhance ethics education and is worthy of further study.   The Society is thus currently making efforts to more effectively design and study alternative approaches to ethics education during clerkship, and throughout the pharmacy curriculum8. 4. Commentary The finding that pharmacy students do not learn ethical behavior from their classroom and clerkship experience in UK casts doubt on full compliance with the code of ethics for this type of healthcare professionals. The above studies conclude that students have a less defined professional ethical system, which may be due to a lack of pharmacy practice experience. They recommend that further studies be done to document the ethical growth and development of pharmacy students. Other authors have suggested that future studies longitudinally evaluate the influence of pharmaceutical education and training on the moral development and ethical behavior of students. Furthermore, it has also been suggested that ethics education should include both theoretical and practical components.   If the code of ethics has to influence the practice of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, concerned authorities must take these suggestions to heart.   Otherwise, the code will only be good on paper.

Critique Of death Of The Author Essay -- essays research papers

Critique of "Death of the Author" The title to the story "The Death of an Author," by Roland Barthes, suggests this story may be a fictional novel about the story of an author's death. Perhaps one might pick it up, and skim the foreword in hopes that beneath the cover of this book there would be a mystery, a story of detectives, eye- witnesses, clues, and a puzzle for the reader to solve. Before I read this story, the title "The Death of an Author" brought to my imagination the biography of a writer slowly drinking himself to death trying to finish the story of his life, but the author would be stuck and depressed because his life is not a story as it is boring and repetitive. I have read such short stories with similar titles by authors like Raymond Carver and others. I was surprised when I began to read "The Death of an Author" that a story with such a powerful title would be a wordy, whimper of a passage. The author Roland Barthes is a brilliant writer, he is able to weave phrases and create new uses for verbs, nouns and adjectives. Though he is a brilliant writer I have to assume that he was not a very bright man or that he at least has very little common sense outside of the literary world. If he wrote in a more simple, to the point modern style I would have read the story, absorbed its content, and would not have given it a second look. The story could be summarized in...

Teacher and Grandmother

Interestingly, the person who had the most impact on my life was my grandmother. My grandmother was a retired College Principal, but for me she was always my Grandmother. She taught me the kinds of things that school teachers never could teach in the classroom. Because my parents were at work and my grandmother was retired, I spent a lot of time with her. She was a mother, a grandparent and a teacher at the same time. She always prepared an interesting activity for the day. We visited museums, theatres, went to the zoo, visited the library, watched movies or just stayed at home and did something fun together. She always created the proper schedule with the weather and my age in mind. I loved the way she could find the tone and the language with me, keeping in mind my capacity. She had a good sense of humor and always tried to cheer me up when she saw lack of interest or tiredness. The biggest lesson I learned from her was how to be a happy and independent child. She let my free spirit wander, making me curious and adventurous. She never lectured me or gave me boring speeches; she always found ways to engage my interest through stories and examples from her life. It were very important for her. She wanted my imagination to grow and explore different ideas and topics in my head. When I could not read by myself, she was the one who introduced me to picture books, and when I went to first grade she sat down with me and held my hand during my discovery of reading independently. My Grandmother was the first person who put a pencil in my hand. First we drew and colored together, and then slowly I learned how to form my letters and to write my name down before I started my school education. As I mentioned before, my parents had to work, so my Grandmother picked me up from school everyday. When we arrived home we always had snack and then a little free time before we sat down to do my homework. If I had a difficult assignment, for example from chemistry or physics, we tried to associate with baking as a science, or made an experiment to see how it could work in real life. She never disciplined me. How it worked between us was very natural; she was older and wiser, I was little and hungry for knowledge. I admired her knowledge, life experience and her enthusiasm; I asked question after question, begged for stories of her life and never let her sit down for a moment. She tried to keep up with me and never complained of being tired and I was never bored. I was the engine of her life and she was the educator in mine. When I was older and went to stay at overnight camps during the summer, she wrote me letters every single day. I learned how important it was to keep contact, communicate and express my feelings and ideas in writing. My grandmother made a huge impact on my life: I learned how much I should appreciate life everyday. I learned how I can make changes if I have an open and curious heart.

Current Issues Facing The American Education System Essay

There was once a time when white males were only allowed to attend colleges and universities. After the civil war, women and those of different ethnicities were thrown into the college scene. However, even today there continues to be the ongoing debate on how it is best to enroll, educate, and graduate these students that were once denied higher education. Because of this debate, American universities still need to provide accommodations to these groups of students. Those previously denied the right to attend universities now face issues because of the confidence gap, the economic gap, and the stress gap. These issues can be fixed if changes are made in the universities teaching system. According to Adrienne Rich in the article†¦show more content†¦Are American Universities still unconsciously holding those back that were once denied the right of higher education? The Chronicles of Higher Education pointed out three key issues that women and those of different ethnici ties still face today. The first issue was the confidence gap. Evaluating themselves lower then men in their academic abilities, women continue to worry about their academic performance. This lack of confidence could be coming from professors, students, or university itself. However, this is not the only issue. The next issue involves levels of stress and depression. Women and those of different ethnicities tend to enter colleges with higher stress and depression than the typical white male (Sax). Once again this stress and depression can be due to teachers, students, and the university. This also leads into the last issue, which is the economic gap. An example of this is issue, can be shown by using women from lower socioeconomic classes. As more and more women from this class choose to attend college, the average income for female college students drops further behind males. 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