Evidence and practice

Professional, legal and ethical dimensions of prescribing. Part 2: legal and ethical

Jill Gould Senior lecturer, College of Health, Psychology and Social Care, School of Nursing and Professional Practice, University of Derby, Derby, England

Heather Bain Academic strategic lead: learning, teaching and assessment, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedic Practice, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland

Why you should read this article:

• To explore the legal and ethical dimensions of prescribing practice with reference to a contemporary prescribing model
• To appreciate that duty of care is integral to professional standards and underpins common ethical principles
• To recognise that familiarity with professional and ethical principles supports nurses to examine their clinical decisions

This is the second of two articles exploring the core professional, legal and ethical dimensions of prescribing. Part one presented a contemporary prescribing model, RAPID-CASE, devised by the authors to demonstrate the application of key professional principles to prescribing practice. This second article examines pertinent legislation and underpinning ethical principles that guide decision-making in prescribing.

Primary Health Care. doi: 10.7748/phc.2022.e1774

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

J.Gould@derby.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Gould J, Bain H (2022) Professional, legal and ethical dimensions of prescribing. Part 2: legal and ethical. Primary Health Care. doi: 10.7748/phc.2022.e1774

Published online: 20 July 2022

Keywords :

clinical - duty of care - ethical issues - ethical practice - legal issues - medicines - Mental Capacity Act - nurse prescribing - prescribing - prescription medicines - professional