Conscientious objection is among ethical dilemmas, which occur rarely. Even though it can cause severe moral distress among pharmacists, conscientious objection remains relatively unexplored in Slovenia.
The aim of this master’s thesis was to explore the field of conscientious objection from the standpoint of awareness, practice and attitude towards it in Slovenian community pharmacies.
For the research investigation, we conducted a focus group. We formed the contents of the focus group with the help of a systematic review and an online questionnaire for pharmacists. First, we established a search profile, which we used for the systematic review of the published literature. In order to learn about the experience and challenges in the practice of conscientious objection in Slovenia, we then used an online questionnaire to survey eight pharmacists who either practice or would like to practice conscientious objection in Slovenia. After we formed the contents, we carried out the focus group with participation of six representatives of various fields of pharmacy, related to conscientious objection in community pharmacies. Descriptive statistical analysis of the questionnaire was performed using Microsoft Excel 2010, while NVivo 11 Pro was used to analyze open-ended questions of the questionnaire and the transcript of the discussion of focus group.
The results of the research showed that there are many dilemmas and ambiguities in exercising conscientious objection. What is missing is a clear definition of conscientious objection, exercise process and the definition of fields in pharmacy in which pharmacists could exercise this right. Slovenian pharmacists have a legal right to conscientious objection, but despite this, there is a problem of exercising the right in practice. The exact number of pharmacists in Slovenia who exercise conscientious objection isn’t known, but is estimated to be very low. Poor awareness of conscientious objection is expected to be present mainly among pharmacists who have little ethical concern. A major problem is the patient’s awareness of conscientious objection. The majority of patients are, according to focus group members, not aware of the pharmacist’s right to conscientious objection or they disregard it. In most cases, the poorer attitude of employers towards conscientious objection is due to the difficulty of organizing work and the fear of abuse.
In order to improve the relations, it would be necessary to first regulate the field of work organization, which would consequently also affect acceptance and attitude toward conscientious objection. Additional training, workshops and lectures could help as well.
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