The impact of the new deontological code upon the pharmacist's activities in Romania

The new provisions of the Deontological Code of the Pharmacist refer, first of all, to proclaiming its adherence to the Universal Charter of Human Rights and the Charter of European Pharmacy, but also to defending the patients’ rights, as a primary goal of the Code. The expression of these principles brings about the obligation for the professional association to reorient its activities, mainly towards ensuring the surveillance of the observance of professional ethics, an activity that had been marginalised in recent times, when a priority had been to defend the financial interests of pharmacists.

The new Code also provides that one of the ethical standards of the pharmacist should be to supply services to the patient, something that will oblige each and every pharmacist to redefine his or her daily professional exercise. In accordance with the new code, it is possible to refuse to supply services only on grounds of serving the interest of the patient's good health, which presupposes an involvement, a decision and a responsibility of the pharmacist in the relationship with the patient.

As far as emergency pharmaceutical services are concerned, the innovation of the Code consists in allowing to issue, in the absence of any medical prescription, under well defined circumstances, of certain ethical drugs. This provision has an impact both upon the exhoneration of disciplinary responsability for the infringement of some legal provisions, as well as the fact of making the pharmacist take responsibility for making a decision in the given circumstances.