Pharmacy students, upon entering their institutions, have to abide by a code of conduct usually higher than other students following a different career path. Students specialising in law, marketing or accounting do not have to maintain the high standard of professionalism that pharmacy students have to demonstrate whilst in school. Students have deemed this set of rules unfair and professionals insist that it has to be maintained in order to fully understand the grasp of pharmacy as a profession. Personally, I understand the need to abide by these rules but also agree with other students that is not necessarily fair.
The profession,pharmacy, deals with lives. The three most important aspect of pharmacy are quality, safety and efficacy of medicines and these in turn help to save patients’ lives, to improve their health and to manage chronic diseases while at the same time maximising the comfort of the patient. It is important to demonstrate a degree of professionalism for patients to ensure their lives in our care. This level of competence can only be exhibited upon entering the profession if students are taught right from day one. It improves the chances of perfecting skills that have been taught and instilled from college and therefore of providing better services to the patients.
As future pharmacists, pharmacy students have to assume the role and learn to behave in an appropriate manner that is respectful to both the profession and colleagues. A pharmacist or even a pharmacy student that is inappropriately behaved would have a detrimental effect on the name of the profession. It would impact on other colleagues and workers associated with working in a pharmacy. The only way to maintain the good name of the pharmacy profession is to ensure that students understand fully well what we are going into and also the repercussion of behaving in a non-appropriate manner. This code of conduct students have to abide by represents the future we face and mould us into the kind of behaviour that is acceptable.
It also has to be said that pharmacy, like all other health professions, has to be held with the strictest of conducts because to be fair, it is not the same as other professions. A mistake made in the banking world would probably cause a mistake in the balance sheet whilst a mistake made by a pharmacist might be as costly as a life. This does not mean that these professions are not as useful or important; it just adds more to the work of a pharmacist and on the importance to be competently skilled so much that there are no rooms for mistakes. So whilst it might be unfair that pharmacy students are punished for mistakes that might be made on a wild night out, it is not without reason that these disciplines are in place.
Pharmacy students are bound by the same professional, ethical and legal standings that pharmacists are bound by. This means that we have to follow the 6 principles that are laid down in the code of conduct by the REGULATORY BODY. The THIS COLLEGE code of conduct is an adaptation of the REGULATORY BODY code of conduct; this means that if we are bound by this now, then we find it easier to maintain this behaviour even when we are in practice. It also ensures that we not only acquire the knowledge and skill needed for practice but that we also obtain the professionalism and ethical integrity needed for high standard practice.
The code of conduct contains six core principles and these include: Acting in the best interest of the patient at all times, developing and maintaining a high level of competence, abiding by the ethical principles that govern patient care, conducting ourselves in a trustworthy and professional manner, the ability to recognise the importance of self-care and lastly, to be able to develop the skills to work on a multidisciplinary team. These are all principles that a pharmacist would have to abide by for the rest of their professional career. It is therefore reasonable that pharmacy students are exposed to these conditions from college days till we actually go into the profession.
These all buttress the points that have been made in the earlier paragraphs. The code of conduct is a summary of the professional, ethical and legal skills a student should acquire upon completion of the pharmacy degree. Take principle 1 for instance, the student has to act in the best interest of the patient at all times. This includes making sure that prescriptions are dispensed correctly, appropriate for the patient and ties in perfectly with the practice sessions from the dispensing that have been taught over the years.
The code of conduct clarifies why some of the activities that might have been deemed unnecessary or too strict by pharmacist. Activities such as reflective diaries, visits to hospitals or community pharmacies in proper dress codes, grand rounds all aim to improve both the professional and knowledge aspect of learning in school. These might have been met with criticism or shallow acceptance in first year when there importance was not known but all these would then later on be appreciated after the SC3 module in year 4. The code of conduct puts together every aspect of a pharmacist’s job and this is quite important in order to attain a sustained level of competence, this is principle 2.
The legal aspect of the pharmacy profession is very daunting. Professional misconducts are punished as deemed fit by the REGULATORY BODY and sometimes, legal actions can be taken by patients against pharmacists or a pharmacy and it is quite possible that this can be in conjunction with the penalty served by the REGULATORY BODY. It is therefore necessary to understand the legal standings associated with the pharmacy profession and once again, the code of conduct that we students have to abide by represents to some extent the idea of penalties available for misconducts. This can be in the form of expulsion, suspension, receiving negative grades, be unfit to practice or some other form of punishment. And like in practice, if the student thinks the decision reached is unfair, they have the right to appeal with the panel. The appeal can be accepted and looked into or rejected.
In addition to all the other points made, THIS COLLEGE is legally required to set the codes for her students’ ethics. The question about fairness doesn’t come into context because it is a requirement the school has to fulfil even if governing bodies agree that it is not fair to students. The code of conduct will also help to maintain the reputation and integrity of the school. Students are aware of the high standards that have been set by previous students and are required to maintain these standards in order to keep the reputation of the school.
Although there are many benefits and without doubt these outweigh the unfairness of having the code of conduct instilled in students from the beginning of the degree, it can still be termed as quite unfair to some students.
Usually, at the age of 18, a student can be allowed entry into a profession of their course provided they meet the academic requirement and skills required through excelling in the interviews conducted. It is quite arguable that a student might not be able to judge professionally or make certain decisions because they are not mature enough at this age. Students who gain entry without the graduate route would be required to do a lot of growing up in the 5 years of studying for the profession. In this case, students who go through the graduate entry route might have a higher advantage over other students in that they would have gone through some experiences during their first qualification and would be better equipped to abide by the code of conduct.
In America, Pharmacy as well as medicine students are only allowed into college through the graduate route. So, it is not unusual that these students might adapt quicker and more effectively to the ethics, legal and professional conduct that are required. If a student who hasn’t gotten into the school of pharmacy through a graduate entry insists that the code of conduct is unfair, they should then be asked if they would prefer to get a first degree before commencing their pharmacy programs.
This is why personally I think that the code of conduct is right and just. The benefits of being introduced to the code of conduct at an early stage (as a student who got into the school without getting a first degree) and the idea of incorporating it into our lives as we mature so that these principles become second nature to us are too profound. This would help to acquire and maintain the level of skill that is needed for a student, who in reality is a future pharmacist, to perform at the highest competent level.
The major principles that this essay has been focused on are patient safety and the ability to be highly competent. This is not because the other principles are not as important, it is because a pharmacist’s life is usually formed around these two. We want our patients to be safe and we want them to believe that we are competent and that we know what we are doing. The code of conduct that students have to abide by for the duration of our course and eventually in the pharmacy profession keeps us in check and also reminds us of these basic but important principles.
Throughout the course of this essay, I have given reasons why I think the code of conduct is fair and why it might be thought otherwise. I would therefore like to conclude my essay by answering the question posted in the debate title directly. I think it is fair that students are expected to abide by the very high standard code of conduct from the school of pharmacy in THIS COLLEGE.