Continuing Professional Development for Pharmacists
Pharmacists are now working much more closely with patients often in complex patient care. This, together with changes in the law introducing prescribing rights, creates enormous opportunities to develop their role; in doing so they will face greater ethical dilemmas affecting their relationships not only with patients but also with professional colleagues. The new Code of Ethics is based on principles rather than rules and supports this change. This suite of modules will provide pharmacists with the opportunity to understand the ethical principles which underpin the changes in their practice and to apply them to real-life situations. The program will also provide a continuing link with Professor McLean and The Centre for Applied Ethics & Legal Philosophy thus enabling pharmacists to benefit from the experience of a leading group working across a range of health care and other disciplines.
Ann Lewis (formerly Secretary and Registrar, Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain )
The recent review of the Code of Ethics for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians, combined with legislative reform, like the 2006 Health Act, have resulted in yet further professionalisation of the practice of pharmacy. However, with this increased recognition comes additional ethical and legal responsibilities. Indeed, being a professional has perhaps never been so complicated, nor so risky. The expanding responsibilities of pharmacy professionals in particular bring with them additional potential sources of liability. Recognition of this possibility is apparent in the updating of the Code of Ethics and the professional standards and guidelines that accompany it. These developments bring with them the need for appropriate education, as the Royal Pharmaceutical Society comment,
"The RPSGB Practice Framework is an acknowledgement of the profession’s need to provide a coherent framework across policies relating to education and practice. The Practice Framework not only describes what a day one pharmacist should be able to do but also stresses the importance of professional development, which is a continuous process in the evolving science and practice of pharmacy. Continuous Professional Development will also mean acquiring and developing a high level of ethical literacy, which will be underpinned by the RPSGB’s Code of Ethics."
In recognition of this need for targeted and appropriate continuing education for pharmacy professionals, the Centre for Applied Ethics and Legal Philosophy (incorporating the Institute of Law and Ethics in Medicine) at Glasgow University has developed a new e-learning CPD programme. The programme currently consists of a suite of six modules:
- Module 1: Introduction to Ethics
- Module 2: Professions & Professional Ethics
- Module 3: Business, Ethics & Pharmacy
- Module 4: Professional Responsibility - Liability in Negligence
- Module 5: Responsibility for Failures in Drug Therapy
- Module 6: Interactive Case Studies
Module 1 - Introduction to Ethics
In response to the new ethical and regulatory environment, many professional bodies have produced revised codes of ethics. These new codes are generally based on principles, as opposed to rules. What this means in practice is that professionals are expected to apply certain principles when determining how they should act, as opposed to simply following a set of rules. However, applying the principles to complex professional dilemmas requires the development of a set of ethical competences. Key competences include
- An understanding of when ethical dilemmas arise in the first instance.
- An appreciation of the bases that make the principles worth pursuing. Why, for example, should a pharmacist, ‘encourage patients to participate in decisions about their health?’’
- An understanding of the different ways in which a principle can be translated into an action. For example, when exercising professional judgement, how do you determine what the interests of the public are, in contrast to the interests of patients or other clients?
- And finally, it requires the ability to resolve a situation where principles are in conflict.
This module will help you develop these key competencies.
Module 2 - Professions & Professional Ethics
This module will help you understand the nature of professional obligations and the tensions that arise between different professional groups. The second section in particular explores the ethical dilemmas that arise from working within multi professional teams
Module 3 - Business Ethics
The first section of this module will help you understand the values that underpin normal business practice and the ethical challenges involved in trying to marry the kind of public health ethic that lies behind the pharmacy profession and a commercial ethic.
The business world does not only represent a specific set of abstract values. It is also a sphere where individuals live out their lives. A sphere characterised by different cultures, groupings, places and languages. The second section of this module will help you understand how different types of business environments influence the way individuals engage with ethical dilemmas. The aim of this section is to help understand the tensions that can arise when individuals are required to work across different professional and business contexts. This aspect of the module should be particularly relevant for those with managerial responsibilities.
Module 4 - The Law of Negligence
Pharmacists are held accountable not only by their own peers but also by the law.
This module explores the fundamentals of the law of negligence which is the most common means by which the law holds professionals to account for their behaviour. The general rules of the law are discussed, and are directly linked to the practice of pharmacy.
The aims of this module are to inform pharmacy professionals of the legal rules under which they work; to explore the legal concept of duty of care; to consider what a duty of care consists of; and to explain the nature of legal causation.
The objectives of the module are to ensure that pharmacy professionals can identify situations in which a duty of care arises; to whom that duty is owed; what are their legal responsibilities to patients and other professionals; and to understand the extent of legal liability which may devolve on the pharmacist in the event of negligence being established.
Module 5 – Failures in Drug Therapy
Drugs are pharmacists’ business, but many others may be involved in the process of manufacturing, distributing, prescribing and selling pharmaceutical products. From manufacture to consumption, there are numerous areas where error or breach of duty can occur. Liability in these cases is much more complex than in the law of negligence simpliciter and may be strict (that is, not dependent on fault) or described by statute. A variety of defences may also be available making the link between the act (or omission) itself and the ultimate harm alleged more difficult to establish. This module traces the roles of the various participants in the chain between the making and the taking of a pharmaceutical product.
The aims of this module are to explain the complex issues of liability in terms of each of those involved in the provision of pharmaceutical product; to explore relative responsibilities; and to consider available defences to allegations that harm has been caused by the behaviour of pharmacists and others involved in the manufacture and distribution of pharmaceutical products.
The objectives of the module are to ensure that pharmacy professionals can evaluate their own responsibility; that they understand their legal responsibilities in dispensing pharmaceutical products; and that their legal role in respect of others is clear.