The ability to apply the highest ethical standards and make the best moral decisions with regard to the drugs available in the health care facilities is the key to building a health society. Indeed, most of the medics in the point of drugs issue find themselves in major dilemmas of balancing critical aspects of health care demands. At any particular moment, human beings welfare should always be considered above all other demands. It is in this respect that this paper explores the ethical and moral decisions that they encounter in their line of duty.
Storage of drugs It is worth noting that most of the drugs that available in many health care facilities take some time before they are all consumed by the patients. Sarah (2007) points out that their careful storage is therefore very essential to maintain effectiveness. However, it becomes hard and expensive to maintain many of the storage facilities like cold or hot systems for them. Indeed, in the era when health care drugs are available in the market commercially, the forces of the market push the traders to minimize the costs in the storage demands.
This is highly unethical in that they may become ineffective or harmful to the patients (Piers, 2001). Handling of the drugs Drugs handling demand extreme care and caution at the points of access. Their handling requires that only professionals and experts are involved to ensure that correct drugs are released to the consumers. Poor handling of drugs results to contamination which can be very harmful to their consumers. It is also necessary that those handling drugs especially over-the-counter drugs are highly qualified to avoid giving the wrong doses to the patients (Lessenger and Feinberg, 2008).
Most of the health care attendants are not fully qualified and often make wrong decision. Monitoring of drugs Though it is a requirement that all the health care drug dealers monitor their drugs carefully, some rarely do it. As indicated earlier, supply of drugs has been highly commercialized and therefore monitoring is mostly related to business profitability. Failure to ensure effective monitoring may lead to sale of expired drugs or unwanted brands to the patients (PDR Health, 2007). Profits and the people health It is imperative that health care facilities balance between business and people’s health at all times.
They should be able to avail the most effective drugs to the people at the correct prices they can afford (Roger, 2004). It is this notion that the generic drugs have turned to be very helpful to the people due to their cost efficiency. However, it is important to ensure that they are given to people whose bodies do not negatively react to them. Conclusion It is from the above discussion that I approve the thesis statement that ethical and moral decision making should be cultivated and articulated in health care facilities.
Drugs availability and provision to the people should be done in the most professional way to guarantee the sanctity and integrity of the people. As indicated earlier, human beings should be treated with the greatest care possible at all times. Besides, stricter policies and legislations should be enacted as major guidelines for ethical acts. Finally, inclusive monitoring systems should be established and patients’ awareness and rights programs formulated.
Reference list
Lessenger, J. & Feinberg, S. (2008). Abuse of prescription and over-the-counter medications. (review). Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine 21(1): 45-54. PDR Health. (2007). PDR family guide to prescription drugs. Retrieved FROM <http://www. pdrhealth. com/drug_info/index. html> Piers, B. (2001). Health Care Ethics. Journal of Applied Philosophy 18 (2):197–199. Roger, J. (2004). Oxford textbook of primary medical care. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sarah, F. (2007). Health Care Ethics: Lessons From Intensive Care. Nursing Philosophy 8 (3): 212–213.