Reporting abuse, fighting against quackery and doping… The long-awaited new code of ethics for pharmacists, published Thursday in the Official Journal, adapts to the evolution of the profession and replaces the previous text dating from 1995.
This new framework governing the practice of the profession gives a prominent place (8 articles) to the duties of the pharmacist towards patients and "clarifies the actions expected of the pharmacist when the latter is confronted with certain situations of abuse".
Thus, "when the pharmacist presumes that a person with whom he intervenes is a victim of violence, abuse, deprivation or mistreatment, he is obliged to act by any means," according to this text, the work on which began in 2016.
More generally, the pharmacist must "provide assistance to any person in immediate danger within the limits of his knowledge and means" and in the face of situations of violence, he can "make a report to the public prosecutor".
The code of ethics acts as a compass, guiding pharmacists in their duties, rights, and responsibilities. Failure to comply with it may result in disciplinary action.
The pharmacist, for example, is careful "not to encourage, by any means whatsoever, the abusive consumption of medicines" and "not to promote the excessive use of medical biology tests".
It "participates in the fight against doping, as well as in prevention and public health promotion actions, particularly with regard to sexually transmitted infections and addictive behaviors."
It contributes to the "fight against quackery. In particular, it refrains from offering illusory or insufficiently scientifically tested services."
"This long-awaited reform modernizes our ethical framework to support the transformations of the healthcare system while reaffirming the essential pillars of our professions: independence, responsibility and patient protection," said Carine Wolf-Thal, President of the National Council of the Order of Pharmacists.
The text, which also recalls the independence of the profession, explicitly regulates the use of digital tools.
This code applies to the more than 75,000 pharmacists in France registered with the Order.
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