Pharmacy Law, Ethics and Professional Practice
Pharmacy Law, Ethics and Professional Practice tests lawful and ethical conduct: prescription validity, controlled drugs, confidentiality, consent, conflicts of interest, and reporting duties. Questions often present pressure from a patient, prescriber, or employer and ask what the pharmacist must do.
Core rules
- A valid prescription must be complete and authentic: patient identifiers, prescriber name and signature, date, medicine, strength, dose, directions, and quantity. Clarify illegible or ambiguous orders; never guess.
- Controlled medicines require secure storage, accurate registers, and compliance with local scheduling and validity rules; verify before dispensing and do not backdate records.
- Confidentiality is a professional duty; share information only with consent or when required by law to prevent serious harm.
- Informed consent and shared decision-making apply to counselling and to participation in research; document refusals.
- Declare conflicts of interest, avoid accepting inducements that affect prescribing or dispensing, and report suspected fraud, impaired practice, or serious ADRs through the proper channel.
Worked example
A patient asks for an early refill of a controlled opioid because 'the pharmacy lost my bottle'. There is no new prescription and no police report. The pharmacist confirms identity, checks the controlled-drug register, and explains that an early supply cannot be made without prescriber authorization and documentation. The pharmacist contacts the prescriber, records the conversation, and offers a non-controlled supportive plan if appropriate. Reasoning: patient need is addressed, but legal record-keeping and prescriber authority are preserved.
Traps
- Accepting a family member's request without confirming the patient's consent.
- Dispensing a controlled drug on an expired or incomplete prescription.
- Altering a prescription to 'correct' it without prescriber authorization.
- Discussing a customer's medicines in a public area.
- Letting an employer's sales target override a clinical or legal objection.