Exploring influences on pharmacists' and students' ethical reasoning in a changing practice landscape in Australia
Author(s)
Sim, Tin Fei
Sunderland, Bruce
Hattingh, H Laetitia
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2019
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Background: Practising pharmacists continuously develop their ethical reasoning skills, which evolve with practice experience and exposure to challenging scenarios. Considering the recent expansion of the roles of pharmacists and the paradigm shift in pharmacy practice, it is timely to explore community pharmacists' attitudes regarding the importance of ethics and their ethical reasoning. Objective: To explore underlying factors influencing community pharmacists' and pharmacy students' ethical reasoning and attitudes towards pharmacy ethics, ethical reasoning processes and perceived current dilemmas. Setting: Practising ...
View more >Background: Practising pharmacists continuously develop their ethical reasoning skills, which evolve with practice experience and exposure to challenging scenarios. Considering the recent expansion of the roles of pharmacists and the paradigm shift in pharmacy practice, it is timely to explore community pharmacists' attitudes regarding the importance of ethics and their ethical reasoning. Objective: To explore underlying factors influencing community pharmacists' and pharmacy students' ethical reasoning and attitudes towards pharmacy ethics, ethical reasoning processes and perceived current dilemmas. Setting: Practising registered community pharmacists, pharmacists with provisional registration (interns) and final year pharmacy students in Australia. Method: Two focus group discussions and two interviews were conducted with 16 Western Australian community pharmacists, interns and students. Participants were purposively selected for gender, background, practice setting, and practice experience. Main outcome measure: Emerging themes embracing important influences on community pharmacists', interns' and students' ethical reasoning and perceived current ethical dilemmas and challenges. Results: Two major themes embraced participants' ethical reasoning processes and conduct: (1) fundamental underpinning, from personal values and practice exposure, and (2) paradigm influenced, such as the changing healthcare landscape, expansion of roles, management of dilemmas, and competence. Increased frequency and complexity of ethical dilemmas related to role expansion. Rural pharmacists experienced unique ethical dilemmas in relation to practice isolation, privacy and confidentiality. Conclusion: Changes in the community pharmacy practice environment has increasingly exposed pharmacists to more complex ethical dilemmas. Pharmacists practising in rural communities experience unique challenges. Structured and sound ethical reasoning skills are essential as pharmacists are faced with contemporary challenges.
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View more >Background: Practising pharmacists continuously develop their ethical reasoning skills, which evolve with practice experience and exposure to challenging scenarios. Considering the recent expansion of the roles of pharmacists and the paradigm shift in pharmacy practice, it is timely to explore community pharmacists' attitudes regarding the importance of ethics and their ethical reasoning. Objective: To explore underlying factors influencing community pharmacists' and pharmacy students' ethical reasoning and attitudes towards pharmacy ethics, ethical reasoning processes and perceived current dilemmas. Setting: Practising registered community pharmacists, pharmacists with provisional registration (interns) and final year pharmacy students in Australia. Method: Two focus group discussions and two interviews were conducted with 16 Western Australian community pharmacists, interns and students. Participants were purposively selected for gender, background, practice setting, and practice experience. Main outcome measure: Emerging themes embracing important influences on community pharmacists', interns' and students' ethical reasoning and perceived current ethical dilemmas and challenges. Results: Two major themes embraced participants' ethical reasoning processes and conduct: (1) fundamental underpinning, from personal values and practice exposure, and (2) paradigm influenced, such as the changing healthcare landscape, expansion of roles, management of dilemmas, and competence. Increased frequency and complexity of ethical dilemmas related to role expansion. Rural pharmacists experienced unique ethical dilemmas in relation to practice isolation, privacy and confidentiality. Conclusion: Changes in the community pharmacy practice environment has increasingly exposed pharmacists to more complex ethical dilemmas. Pharmacists practising in rural communities experience unique challenges. Structured and sound ethical reasoning skills are essential as pharmacists are faced with contemporary challenges.
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Journal Title
International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
Volume
41
Issue
1
Subject
Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences
Other health sciences
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Australia
Ethical dilemma