Subotica Pharmacy, Matije Gupca 26, Subotica, 24000, Serbia.
Department of Social Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Legislation, The Center for the Study of Bioethics, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
Sci Eng Ethics. 2019 Aug;25(4):1017-1036. doi: 10.1007/s11948-017-9870-x. Epub 2017 May 23.
Researching ethical problems and their frequency could give us a complex picture and greater insight into the types of ethical issues that pharmacists face in providing health care. The overall aim of this study was to assess the pharmacist's perception of difficulty and frequency of selected ethical issues encountered by the community pharmacists in their everyday practice. A quantitative cross sectional multicenter study was performed using a validated survey instrument - Ethical Issue Scale for Community Pharmacy (EISP). The results of the analysis of 690 completely filled out instruments (response rate 78.49%) showed the difference between the ethical issues which always occurred ("A pharmacist is prevented from dispensing a medicine to the patient due to an administrative error in the prescription"), and the ones that pharmacists found most difficult ("A pharmacist dispenses a medicine he/she personally considers inadequate for the therapeutic treatment of the patient, in order to avoid any conflicts with the physician" and "A pharmacist is considering violating the rules and regulations in order to perform an act of humanity"). The majority of respondents (84.78%) were familiar with the Code of Ethics but the correlation between the familiarity and the perceived usefulness of the code in resolving problems in everyday practice was negative (ρ = -0.17, p < 0.001). Results showed that patients' well-being had a high influence on pharmacists' behavior. The results provided quantitative data by the examination of specific ethical issues and their occurrence. Further empirical research is recommended in order to systematically identify the ethical issues faced by community pharmacists.
研究伦理问题及其频率可以为我们提供一个复杂的画面,并更深入地了解药剂师在提供医疗保健时所面临的伦理问题类型。本研究的总体目的是评估药剂师对社区药剂师在日常实践中遇到的选定伦理问题的难度和频率的感知。采用经过验证的调查工具——社区药房伦理问题量表(EISP)进行了一项定量横断面多中心研究。对 690 份完整填写的问卷进行分析的结果(响应率为 78.49%)表明,经常发生的伦理问题(“由于处方中的行政错误,药剂师阻止向患者发放药物”)与药剂师认为最困难的问题(“药剂师发放他/她个人认为对患者治疗治疗不足的药物,以避免与医生发生任何冲突”和“药剂师正在考虑违反规则和法规,以便实施人道主义行为”)之间存在差异。大多数受访者(84.78%)熟悉职业道德准则,但熟悉程度与准则在解决日常实践中问题的有用性之间呈负相关(ρ=-0.17,p<0.001)。结果表明,患者的福祉对药剂师的行为有很大影响。结果通过检查特定的伦理问题及其发生情况提供了定量数据。建议进行进一步的实证研究,以便系统地确定社区药剂师面临的伦理问题。