Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs

Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs

1. Explain the ethical and legal implications of the scenario you selected on all stakeholders
involved, such as the prescriber, pharmacist, patient, and patient's family.

Ethics and morality should be upheld by both the prescriber and the pharmacist, mainly
when making a morally and ethically acceptable choice. Healthcare providers should consider
ethical concepts like beneficence, autonomy, fairness, and honesty to ensure that they provide the
best possible care for their patients. A patient's well-being, safety, and well-being are the primary
considerations in all healthcare choices and activities. Laws that have already been passed should
be respected to prevent any further legal ramifications. In the case of the prescriber, the nurse
practitioner must consider the pros and cons of issuing a prescription for her spouse. Because she
may make a medical mistake that puts her spouse in danger, the concept of benevolence must be
taken into account. It would also be against the law and contrary to appropriate conduct for a
nurse practitioner. In addition to being regulated by legislation, pharmacists must adhere to
ethical and moral standards as well. In order to ensure her husband's safety, the concept of non-
maleficence should be taken into account.
Patients and their families also have to speak with a physician to prescribe the correct
prescription. Despite the AMA's 2017 nurse practitioner prescriptive authority permitting NP to
prescribe the majority of opioids, certain states, including Texas, still only let physicians or those
working under their supervision write prescriptions for medications (Parimbelli et al., 2018).
Because NP does not have the authority to prescribe opioids in certain countries, this is the best
course. For the therapy to be effective, the patient and family's obligation is to follow health
teachings to administer medications properly.

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2. Describe strategies to address disclosure and nondisclosure as identified in the situation
you selected. Be sure to reference laws specific to your state.

If the occurrence is kept a secret, the likelihood of a recurrence of the same behaviour
rises. However, in the hierarchy, a dispute should be resolved with the party directly involved
before involving higher-ups (Price et al., 2018). My colleague has to be consulted before I can
provide him with any advice or ideas on proceeding after this occurrence. It's better to talk with
higher-ups if we can't address the issue ourselves.
As a result, it is beneficial for the other nurse practitioner to be made aware of the
situation so that effective conflict management can occur. Because the Texas Board of Nursing
prohibits NPs from practising on their own and requires constant physician supervision, this is
the reason. In 2013, Texas passed Senate Bill 406, which mandates that all doctors who oversee
PAs and NPs must sign and date a "prescriptive authority agreement" declaring the prescription
of drugs to be within the doctor's control (Khazzaka, 2019).

3. Explain two strategies that you, as an advanced practice nurse, would use to guide your
decision making in this scenario, including whether you would disclose your error. Be
sure to justify your explanation.

Advanced practice nurses would approach a patient and inquire why the patient acted the
way she did. I would question her why she did it, but courteously, in a way that she wouldn't be

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insulted by it. No legislation prohibits nurses from prescribing medicine to family members who
are not under their care (Mitchell & Oliphant, 2016), but I would still tell her that such conduct is
unacceptable. It's best to warn her to avoid misdemeanours and punishments, especially if the
hospital they're now in doesn't allow such conduct. When I see her repeating the same thing
again and over again, I will go to the higher-ups and file a complaint. I would say to my
coworker, "After all my warnings, you still did the same thing a couple of times," precisely.
Moreover, I'd advise her in advance that I'm not doing this because I dislike her, but rather
because I want her to acknowledge her mistake and attempt to grow from it.
When disagreement emerges in the workplace, it is crucial to know who and when to
contact the organization's hierarchy.

4. Explain the process of writing prescriptions, including strategies to minimize medication
errors.