Posted: September 24th, 2023

Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs

Prescription Drug Ethical and Legal Issues
What medicine should you prescribe for your patient’s condition? How much should the patient take? When should the medicine be taken? When is it not prescribed? Are there any patient-specific characteristics that could cause issues with the drug? Should you treat this patient with drugs?

These are some questions you ask yourself before choosing a patient’s treatment strategy. Every day, as an APRN providing drugs, you are responsible for people’s lives. Because of your position, patients and their families often trust you. To “do no harm” is a moral and legal commitment that comes with trust. It is critical that you are aware of current professional, legal, and ethical requirements for APRNs. You will evaluate the ethical and legal consequences of circumstances and how to respond appropriately.

1st case:

You prescribe drugs as a nurse practitioner. You misprescribe medication to a 5-year-old. You give him an adult dose instead of a child’s.

Case 2:

An old friend calls and wants you to prescribe a drug. You have autonomy, but not your friend’s health history. You still write the script.

3rd case:

You notice another NP writing a prescription for her non-patient husband. It’s a narcotic prescription. You are undecided about reporting the incident.

Case 4:

You read a pharmacoeconomics journal article during your hospital lunch break. You recall a few patients who lately expressed financial concerns. You wonder if some of the expensive drugs you prescribed are helping the patients’ health and quality of life.

Prep:

Examine Chapter 1 of Arcangelo and Peterson’s text, as well as publications from the ANA, Anderson and Townsend, the DEA, and Philipsend and Soeken.

Pick one of the four situations.

Prescriber, pharmacist, patient, and patient’s family should all consider the ethical and legal consequences of the case.

Consider two ways that you, as an APN, would utilize to help you make ethical and legal decisions in this situation.

Keeping in mind:

Explain the scenario’s ethical and legal consequences for all parties, including the prescriber, pharmacist, patient, and patient’s family.

Describe two decision-making processes you, as an APN, would utilize in this case.

The ethical and legal concerns of prescription medications for nurse practitioners
Prescription Drug Ethical and Legal Issues

Professional ethics are unwritten rules. They stem from the concept that no one should intentionally injure herself or others. It describes a medical blunder in the context of healthcare professional practice. It discusses the scenario’s ethical and legal implications, as well as mitigation options.

Consequences ethique

A nurse practitioner gave a five-year-old the improper medicine dosage. Instead of the correct dose, the nurse prescribed an adult dose. Arcangelo, Peterson, Wilbur, and Reinhold (2017) advise nurses to always know the type of therapy patients require before prescribing. They state that weight is the primary determinant in choosing dosage for youngsters. The dosage for each kilogram of a child’s body weight must be clearly stated (Arcangelo et al., 2017). The prescriber, a Nurse Practitioner, is responsible for assessing physician medication information and prescribing the right prescription. In the foregoing case, the nurse has failed in his job and may be fired, have his license revoked, or be prosecuted. The youngster may suffer from overdosing issues as a result of the blunder. This might lead to lawsuits, job losses for the nurse and pharmacist, and a tarnished hospital reputation. According to Brown (2013), most doctor-patient claims stem from drug errors.

Decision-making strategies

The first strategy for a practicing nurse would be to stop giving the improper dosage. I would then apologize to the child’s parents or guardians for my mistakes. According to Guilod (2013), failing to report pharmaceutical errors could result in financial losses from lawsuits and demands from patients or their families. Then I’d go to the pharmacist and ask for a correct dosage using the proper paediatric prescription procedures. Ultimately, I would show remorse and accept any punishment meted out for my mistake.

Second, conduct a root-cause analysis to identify long-term corrective and preventative measures. The hospital management would likely quickly appoint a team or someone to investigate the blunder. I would help the investigators understand my mistake. This collaboration will assist everyone find the root of the error. According to Crigger and Holcomb (2008 – Affordable Custom Essay Writing Service | Write My Essay from Pro Writers), work stress may cause nurses to misprescribe medicines. The long-term approach is to hire additional nurses to alleviate workload. The hospital might also add dosage verification points between prescribing nurses.

Conclusion

Nurse practitioners make mistakes all the time in healthcare. While some of these errors may be detrimental to the practitioner’s career and patients’ health, others may not be. This paper has proven that medication errors in pediatrics can have serious effects for patients, families, hospitals, and doctors. The most ethical thing to do in such situations is to admit the error and strive to mitigate the effects. Prescription mistakes can be prevented by identifying and eliminating their primary causes.

References

Arcangelo, V. P., et al (2017). Advanced pharmacotherapeutics: A practical approach (4th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, PA.

N. Crigger, L. Holcomb (2008 – Affordable Custom Essay Writing Service | Write My Essay from Pro Writers). Rational prescribing improves nurse practitioner practice. JNP, 4(2), 120-125.

Obi, O (2013). Legal Aspects of Medical Error Disclosure. 2(3), e31.

S. (2013, August 8). Safe prescribing medical law and ethics Medical Defense. Retrieved February 26, 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online from http://www.medicalprotection.org/uk/about-mps/media-centre/media-galleryGould, J., & Bain, H. (2022). Principles and Practice of Nurse Prescribing. SAGE.
Felmly, L.M. and Sade, R.M., 2022. Ethical controversies related to the care of an intravenous drug abuser with endocarditis. In Infective Endocarditis (pp. 307-326). Content Repository Only!.

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