Professional judgement

Pharmacy guide

As a pharmacist, you'll often have to choose between several courses of action. A crude example being to decide whether to supply a medicine or not.

In some cases, there may be a conflict between your ethical duty to promote patient care and safety and legislation which restricts your action.

You may have to choose the best option possible in the circumstances and be prepared to defend your action.

You can use this guide to break the decision-making process down into smaller steps.

If you need help exercising your professional judgment in prescribing scenarios, our prescribing ethics guide can help.

^{First Published: 4 October 2016
Reviewed: 26 August 2025}