George Gregory Buttigieg¹*, Kirill Micallef-Stafrace², Petar Uchikov³ and Anna Mihaylova⁴

¹Professor, University of Malta/School of Pharmacy, University of Rome, Tor Vergata/Plovdiv Medical University, Bulgaria
²Mater Dei Hospital/University of Malta, Malta
³Medical University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria
⁴Medical College, Medical University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria

*Corresponding Author: George Gregory Buttigieg, Professor, University of Malta/School of Pharmacy, University of Rome, Tor Vergata/Plovdiv Medical University, Bulgaria.

Received: July 26, 2021; Published: August 30, 2021

Abstract

There is an undoubted shift in the very raison d’être of the profession of Pharmacy, now generally considered as a major healthcare profession. This entails not only new duties, responsibilities and the creation of sub-specialties and super sub-specialties, but also new rights and responsibilities. These are themselves guarded by evolving national and European legislation as well by local Pharmacy registering bodies empowered at law and responsible to the local constitutions. As in most other healthcare branches, awareness of medico-legal pitfalls leading to litigation and at times Court prosecution and liability still remains low.

This article argues for the need for the increase and fostering of such awareness not only in daily clinical practice but on a higher level of organised, structured, academic embracement at both under and post-graduate levels. Furthermore, the authors hold that whether this advice is acted upon or not, time and circumstance will eventually force the issue in the future. Particularly emphasised and illustrated with examples is the fundamental point that academically embracing such medico-legal studies will in itself contribute in major ways to eventual Good Pharmacy Practice.

Keywords: Litigation; Pharmacy Practice; Education; Laws; Morality; Medico-legal Awareness; Jurisprudence; Mission Statement; Standard of Care; Laws; Regulations; Dispensing; Communication; Structured Teaching; Defensive Medicine; Confidence

References

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Citation

Citation: George Gregory Buttigieg., et al. “Medico-legal Awareness and Structured Teaching as Proposed Requirements in Pharmacy Education".Acta Scientific Pharmacology 2.9 (2021): 33-38.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 George Gregory Buttigieg., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.