Introduction
The term Allied Health Professionals is used to refer to the several health care workers separate from doctors, nurses and dentists. Examples of allied health professionals include bioengineers, nutritionists, exercise physiologists, occupation therapists, paramedics and pharmacists among others. This group of workers is a core part of the health care system as they perform important roles in the sector. Experts argue that allied health professionals make up nearly two thirds of the healthcare labor force . The roles that they perform include diagnostics, direct patient care, technical support and therapeutic roles. Therefore it is critical to understand the laws that govern this group of employees and professional liabilities that they can face. This research paper analyses the professional liability faced by pharmacists in performing their duties.
Pharmacists are professionals trained on linkages between chemical sciences and health care in order to ensure effective use of pharmaceutical drugs. In general, pharmacists undergo university training or any other higher learning training approved by medical governing bodies. Such training must be directed towards understanding biochemical process and chemical action in order to have a clear understanding of the working of the drugs in the human body. Most pharmacists practice in community pharmacies, also known as retail pharmacies, and hospital pharmacies. In most countries, pharmacies are regulated by laws and professional bodies . However, there are common problems associated with the profession that lead to the worker being held liable.
One of the most common cases of malpractice is dispensing of the wrong by the pharmacist. According to Fremgen (2008), nearly half of the profession misconduct cases against pharmacists were due to wrong drug. The reasons why pharmacists dispense the wrong drug are quit varied. In one case, a pharmacist blamed long working hours and fatigue that led to picking the wrong drug from the shelf. In another case, the pharmacists had employed technical help in getting the drugs from storage and did not countercheck to see that the technician and right drug.
The most common reason provided for dispensing the wrong drug was that some drugs have their names looking alike. For instance, the prescription for Prilosec may be mistaken for Prozac, Navane for Norvasc and Laxic for Losec. This problem was so common that the drug company producing Losec renamed its drug to Prilosec to avoid the confusion. The situation is further worsened by the poor handwriting associated with physicians. Doctors and nurses seem not to care about the legibility of their handwriting. Without thorough diligence in such cases, pharmacist will continue to make the same error.
The second common cause of pharmacy misconduct was found to be prescribing the right drug but with the wrong strength. These cases contribute nearly a quarter of all the cases against pharmacists . Drugs are known to work at different strength levels depending on the age or the weight of the patient. For instance, prescribing a drug at 0.125 milligrams and the same drug at 0.25 milligrams will give a totally different result . Such mistakes have been found to be extremely dangerous and could be even fatal. In pharmacology, there are narrow safety margins with regard to the amount of allowable drugs content in the human body. This problem is common in drugs that are available at different strength levels such as Synthroid.
The final case presented against pharmacists is providing the patient with wrong direction of how to take the drugs. In common practice, drugs can be taken once, twice or thrice per day depending on the pharmacokinetics of the drugs. Pharmacists have been blamed for giving the wrong direction on how to use the drug. To avoid such errors, pharmacists should learn to be keen while direction of how to use the drug. Pharmaceutical companies have gone further to provide information to pharmacists on how the drug should be used.
Conclusion
Pharmacists are an integral part of the health care and without these allied health care workers, it impossible to have a proper functioning health care system. Thus to have a harmonious working relation pharmacists need to follow guidelines provided by the law and their professional bodies. Diligence must also be applied in dispensing drugs.
References
Abood, R. R. (2010). Pharmacy Practice and the Law. Boston: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Fremgen, B. F. (2008). Medical law and ethics. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall.
