Ethics in modern pharmaceutical practice

Introduction: According to legal provisions and moral and ethical principles, pharmacists are required to contribute to improving the level and quality of health care services of their professional duties. Modern pharmaceutical practice in a community pharmacy setting presumes a pharmacist faced to many situations, when is required to see the right decisions to concern for the welfare of the patient. It carries a new kind of professional expectations and obligations, but may produce serious conflicts and ethical dilemmas as well. Objective: To describe the importance of professional ethics and knowledge of ethical codes, ethical principles and moral principles by pharmacists, and the ways of making decisions in situations where pharmacists encounter to the ethical problems in terms of contemporary pharmacy practice. Content analysis was performed and ethical problems solving was analyzed. Methods: We used a descriptive approach with desk research method of reviewing available data from different sources and literature. Results: Data from the literature say about the legal interpretation of the ethical problems in practice and poor knowledge of the codes by pharmacists. By the analysis of codes, four basic principles were established: beneficence, safety, justice and autonomy. In ethical situations, pharmacists are in the state of moral anxiety based on agitation and moral conflict. There are several ways of making moral decisions. Conclusion: It is necessary to educate pharmacists in terms of knowledge of ethical codes and making distinctions with legal problems. It is necessary to develop an awareness of the importance of professional ethics and how to improve the moral decision-making.