making professional judgement

Question 1

what is deontology

Answer 1

Actions are performed out of duty or moral obligation

Appeal to duties to determine what should be done

• Consequences are thought to be irrelevant.
• One’s duties are determined by maxims (e.g. first do no harm), principles, rules etc.
• Duty of care…. #1 Provide patient-centred care

Question 2

what are the 4 ethical principles

Answer 2

Non-Maleficence
Beneficence
Justice
Respect for autonomy

Question 3

what does non-maleficene mean?

Answer 3

To not cause harm
• Includes both ‘acts and omissions’
• Could include withholding/withdrawing treatment that harms patients

Question 4

what does beneficence mean ?

Answer 4

• Promote the well being of others, benefit to the patient
• Encompasses medical paternalism
• Acting without consent or overriding a person’s wishes,
wants, or actions, in order to benefit the patient or prevent
harm.

Question 5

what does respect for autonomy mean?

Answer 5

• Right of a competent adult to make informed decisions, including to refuse (even life-saving) treatment
• Self-determination
• An individual’s action ought to be the result of his or her own choices
• Freedom to act independently

Question 6

what does justice mean?

Answer 6

• Fairness - distribute health care resources (goods, service)
• Treat similar cases in similar ways
• Same respect to patients in different circumstances

Question 7

what are the GPhC Standards for pharmacy professionals

Answer 7

pharmacy professionals must:

Provide person-centred care
2. Work in partnership with others
3. Communicate effectively
4. Maintain, develop and use their professional knowledge and
skills
5. Use professional judgement
6. Behave in a professional manner
7. Respect and maintain the person’s confidentiality and privacy
8. Speak up when they have concerns or when things go wrong
9. Demonstrate leadership

Question 8

what is the ethical decision making framework

Answer 8

1. Determine the facts
2. Define the ethical issue
3. Analyse the problem: identify major principles, rules, values
4. Develop and evaluate solutions
5. Act
6. Make a decision
7. Assess and reflect on decision

Question 9

what is Consequentialism

Answer 9

Results-based ethics

• Based on two principles:
1. Whether an act is right or wrong depends only on the results (ie the consequences) of that act

2. The more good consequences an act produces, the better or more right that act.
   • What should be done are those actions which
   >maximize good consequences and
   >minimize bad consequences for the greatest
   number of individuals.

Question 10

what is the concept of ultilarianism ?

Answer 10

Utilitarianism 1
Basic Insights
• The purpose of morality is to guide people’s actions in such a
way as to produce a better world.
• Therefore the emphasis in utilitarianism is on consequences,
not intentions.
• We should do whatever will bring the most benefit (i.e., intrinsic
value) to all of humanity.
• The fundamental imperative of utilitarianism is ‘always act in the
way that will produce the greatest overall amount of good in
the world.’

instrumental value vs intrinsic value
• in ethics, the four principle candidates for intrinsic value are:
• pleasure
• happiness
• ideals
• preferences
• Utilitarianism is a morally demanding position for two
reasons:
1. It always asks us to do the most, to maximize utility,
not to do the minimum.
2. It asks us to set aside personal interest

Question 11

Act Utilitarianism

Answer 11

• Based on the consequences of actions alone.

Question 12

Rule Utilitarianism

Answer 12

Proposed that the obvious problems could be addressed by following rules of action that generally maximizes pleasure and minimizes pain as consequences

Question 13

Act Utilitarianism 1 - Pleasure

Answer 13

Looks at the consequences of each individual act and calculates utility each time the act is performed.

• Every individual is counted, and their experiences of pleasure and pain are equal, e.g. my experience of pleasure and pain has the same value as your pleasure and pain

Question 14

Rule Utilitarianism 2 - Happiness

Answer 14

Believed that happiness, not pleasure, should be the standard of utility.

Question 15

Utilitarianism - Ideals

Answer 15

Ethical theory based on Ideal Values

• Strive to maximize ideal valuessuch as freedom, knowledge,justice, and beauty.

• The world may not be a better place with more pleasure in it, but it certainly will be a better place with more freedom, more knowledge, more justice, and
more beauty.

• Moore’s candidates for intrinsic good remain difficult to quantify

Question 16

Utilitarianism - Preferences

Answer 16

Ethical theory based on Preferences
• Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel Prize winning Stanford economist,
argued that what has intrinsic value is preference satisfaction.

• It lets people choose for themselves what has intrinsic value. It simply defines intrinsic value as whatever satisfies an agent’s preferences. It is elegant and pluralistic.

Question 17

Issues with utilitarianism

Answer 17

There are significant problems in making utilitarian theories
work.

• Limited to considering consequential utility
• Measuring intrinsic value e.g. pleasure, pain, happiness, etc.
• Measuring consequences.
• Determining what time-frame over which consequences should be measured
• Differences in the experience of intrinsic value.