Pharmacy Legislation, Ethics, and Professional Practice
Core concepts
Know the legal framework governing pharmacy practice: licensing of pharmacists and premises, prescription requirements and validity, controlled-substance handling and record-keeping, dispensing and substitution rules, and rules on advertising and sale of medicines. Understand the classification of medicines (prescription-only vs over-the-counter) and the pharmacist's responsibility for safe supply. Be familiar with the concept of Good Pharmacy Practice and the standards for storage, labeling, and record retention.
Ethics
Apply the core ethical principles: beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice. Understand informed consent, confidentiality, conflict of interest, and the duty to report. Recognize the difference between an ethical dilemma and a legal requirement, and know that professional codes may impose duties beyond the legal minimum.
Traps in questions
- Assuming a legal requirement automatically satisfies an ethical duty (or vice versa).
- Forgetting that controlled drugs require special documentation and secure storage.
- Confusing prescription validity periods with refill rules.
- Overlooking that patient confidentiality can be breached only where law or serious public interest requires it.
Worked example (rule of thumb)
When a question presents a conflict, apply the hierarchy: is it lawful? is it within the pharmacist's competence? does it respect patient autonomy and confidentiality? If all three hold, the action is generally defensible; if any fails, refer or decline and document.