
In a recent newsletter The Medical Council raised again the matter of treating yourself or those close to you. Their statement on this includes but is not limited to the prescribing of medications. The guiding principle is “wherever possible, you should not treat yourself or those close to you. Your clinical objectivity may be compromised, and patient outcomes and continuity of care may be adversely affected.”
In their newsletter they asked you to consider clinical, professional and ethical standards and what this means in the context of treating those close to you.
This is a timely request from the Medical Council because the Council are continuing to identify cases of this kind of prescribing.
Self-prescribing or prescribing to those close to you can come to the attention of the Council by a specific complaint or they may become aware of it in the course of an investigation.
Practitioners should understand that every prescription they have ever written is recorded on a Health New Zealand data base. It is therefore very straight forward to review prescribing practices and see what and for whom medicines have been prescribed.
In the first Medicus newsletter I wrote about this very topic and advised members that the Council would take self-prescribing and prescribing to those close to you very seriously. This of course particularly applies to controlled drugs and psychotropic medication for which no exceptions will be tolerated. This is a timely reminder for our members as it can be difficult to defend. Should you find yourself in a situation where such prescribing is necessary transparency will hold you in good stead. For example, a note or message to their own GP informing them of the prescribing and the nature of the circumstances which led you to prescribe in the manner should mitigate the risk.
The team at Medicus continues to review current areas of concern and trends in complaints to provide our members with the knowledge and skills to assist in avoiding the risk of a complaint.
Dr Andrew Dunn
General Practitioner
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