APC Professional Ethics and Standards 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A pharmacist discovers a prescribing error that could harm a patient. What is the FIRST ethical obligation?
- Dispense as prescribed to avoid conflict
- Contact the prescriber immediately to clarify (Correct answer)
- Refuse dispensing without documenting reasons
- Report the error to the pharmacy board first
Correct answer: Contact the prescriber immediately to clarify
The pharmacist's primary duty is patient safety, requiring immediate contact with the prescriber to resolve the error before dispensing.
Question 2: Under the Australian Pharmacy Council competency standards, which domain specifically addresses a pharmacist's responsibility to society?
- Domain 1: Expert Practitioner
- Domain 2: Communicator
- Domain 3: Collaborator
- Domain 4: Professional and Ethical Practitioner (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Domain 4: Professional and Ethical Practitioner
Domain 4 covers the professional and ethical obligations pharmacists have to individual patients, the profession, and society at large.
Question 3: A patient requests their prescription information be withheld from their family members. A pharmacist should:
- Share information with immediate family as a courtesy
- Comply with the patient's request unless safety is at risk (Correct answer)
- Inform the prescriber of the patient's unusual request
- Deny dispensing until the patient reconsiders
Correct answer: Comply with the patient's request unless safety is at risk
Patients have a right to confidentiality, and pharmacists must respect this unless there is an overriding safety concern.
Question 4: Which principle best describes a pharmacist's duty to act in the patient's best interest even when it conflicts with the patient's own stated wishes?
- Autonomy
- Beneficence (Correct answer)
- Paternalism
- Non-maleficence
Correct answer: Beneficence
Beneficence refers to acting in the patient's best interest, though it must be balanced against patient autonomy.
Question 5: A pharmacist working for a chain pharmacy is pressured by management to meet dispensing quotas that may compromise safety checks. The pharmacist should:
- Meet the quota to maintain employment
- Document concerns and escalate through professional channels (Correct answer)
- Quietly reduce safety checks to meet targets
- Resign immediately without documentation
Correct answer: Document concerns and escalate through professional channels
Pharmacists must maintain professional standards regardless of employer pressure, and should document and escalate safety concerns appropriately.
Question 6: The concept of 'informed consent' in pharmacy practice means a patient must receive:
- A written document to sign before every dispensing
- Sufficient information to make a voluntary and educated decision (Correct answer)
- Confirmation from a second pharmacist
- Approval from their prescriber for OTC purchases
Correct answer: Sufficient information to make a voluntary and educated decision
Informed consent requires that patients receive adequate information about their treatment to make a voluntary, educated decision.
Question 7: A pharmacist has a religious objection to dispensing emergency contraception. Ethically, the pharmacist must:
- Refuse dispensing and direct the patient elsewhere with no delay
- Dispense regardless of personal beliefs to meet professional duty
- Ensure the patient can access the medication promptly, either by dispensing or immediate referral (Correct answer)
- Request the patient return when another pharmacist is available
Correct answer: Ensure the patient can access the medication promptly, either by dispensing or immediate referral
While pharmacists may conscientiously object, they must ensure patients can access needed medications without undue delay through prompt referral.
APC Professional Ethics and Standards 2
A pharmacist discovers a prescribing error that could harm a patient.
What is the FIRST ethical obligation?