During your lunch break at the hospital, you read a journal article on pharmacoeconomics. You think of a couple of patients who have recently mentioned their financial difficulties. You wonder if some of the expensive drugs you have prescribed are sufficiently managing the patients’ health conditions and improving their quality of life.

Explain the ethical and legal implications of the scenario you selected on all stakeholders involved, such as the prescriber, pharmacist, patient, and patient’s family.

 

Answer:

ETHICAL AND LEGAL IMPLICATIONS OF PRESCRIBING DRUGS  

Financial challenges has faced by many patients in different health facility to an extent that they are not able to afford their treatment bills or buy prescribed medicine.

Stakeholders involved in the scenario are

1) prescriber

2)Nurse practitioner

3) pharmacist

4) patent and family

1) prescriber -The main responsibility of the prescriber is to ensure to analysis the patient condition is done through collection of both objective and subjective data. After the physical examination and conducting related test he or she is responsible of prescribing the best available drugs to the patient without considering their financial ability.

2) Nurse practitioner -According to the instructions by prescriber and according to the Medical act, nurses are required to conduct a thorough history taking and physical assessment to a patient before making any clinical diagnosis or prescribing any drugs and violation of this code may lead to legal implication such as omission. Therefore proper assessment of patient should be done

3) Pharmacist - Once the patient is introduced to the pharmacist, it is very important for a pharmacist to understand the financial constraints of the patient and he/ she should be able to offer the cheapest drugs that are able to heal the condition that the patient is suffering from.It is considered as an ethical and legal duty of pharmacist to understand the patient history and conducting an assessment before issuing any medication.It help in making correct decision and also helps to identify the mistakes of prescribers while prescribing medication .

4) patient and family - If there is any adverse reaction or serious side effects, the patientand her family have the right to file for legal case against the nurse and the pharmacist. Therefore, it is considered as very important for the nurse and the pharmacist to follow the correct procedure of taking the patient history and conducting a proper physical examination on a patient before prescribing and issuing any medication.