Ethical prescribing refers to the administration of medication in a responsible and accountable manner. Because of the adverse effects of clinical negligence, ethical prescribing is today considered one of the most important aspects of clinical practice. The general guideline of prescription is that prescriptions should only be administered by nurses who have enough knowledge of the health of the patient (Mitchell & Oliphant, 2016). Moreover, experts argue that physicians should use evidence-based practices and should not be swayed by their own personal interest. Nurses and physicians are also required to abide by a multi-step considerations set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The multi-step prescribing considerations set by the WHO allows practitioners to better focus the intentions of their treatment. There are seven considerations. These are; Evaluate and define the patient’s problem, determine the therapeutic objective of the drug therapy, select an appropriate medication, provide patients with information, warnings and instructions, monitor, the patient regularly, consider drug costs when prescribing, use appropriate tools, such as prescribing software and electronic drug references, and to reduce prescription errors ("The APRN’s Role and Responsibility in Ethical Prescribing", 2017).
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With family and friends, prescribing laws may vary from state to state. However, experts advise against prescribing to family and friends. This is because it is believed that the relationship between the practitioner and the family member could affect the practitioner’s judgment (Cole, Kesselheim & Kesselheim, 2011). For drugs not yet approved, it is deemed ethical if a practitioner seeks consent from a patient first. There is a wide range of medications that have clinically been proven to be safe but are yet to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Like drugs that are yet to be approved, practitioners are also advised to seek consent from patients first. Use of drugs of last resort is highly regulated by the FDA.
References
Cole, L., Kesselheim, J., & Kesselheim, A. (2011). Ethical Issues in New Drug Prescribing. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry , 9 (1), 77-83. doi: 10.1007/s11673-011-9342-y
Mitchell, A., & Oliphant, C. (2016). Responsibility for Ethical Prescribing. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners , 12 (3), A20. doi: 10.1016/j.nurpra.2016.01.008
The APRN’s Role and Responsibility in Ethical Prescribing. (2017). Retrieved from https://onlinenursing.duq.edu/blog/aprns-role-responsibility-ethical-prescribing/
