Pharmacy Daily | Pharmacy ethics focus of new FIP report

PRACTISING pharmacists must be "fully engaged and competent to deal with ethical issues arising from the increasing challenges of hi-tech health care and its delivery in a business environment," according to a new report from the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).

Ethics and the pharmacist: Privacy and confidentiality has been produced by the FIP Community Pharmacy Section, and provides insights into the practical implementation of the professional ethics of privacy and confidentiality of pharmacists across 17 nations.

While the data showed a number of indicators of good practice, some of the findings were concerning, including gaps in current training programs both pre- and post-graduation.

Also worrying was an "infrastructure that is not conducive to preserving confidentiality" in some pharmacies.

"Our profession is undergoing a transformation towards more clinical roles in patient care, providing services such as medication therapy management, immunisation and health screening.

"Lack of privacy and confidentiality in certain geographical areas are crucial obstacles that could inhibit service utilisation," the authors noted.

The report highlights successful approaches globally including in Australia, where the Australian Pharmacy Council mandates teaching institutions to integrate the teaching of pharmacy ethics into the curriculum as a criterion to be met for pharmacy accreditation.

However the authors concluded that compared with other health care practices such as nursing and medicine, "ethics receives relatively little attention in pharmacy practice".

The report is available for download at fip.org.