Abstract
This study examined ethical problems from the perspective of pharmacists from a variety of practice settings. The objectives were to: (i) compare and contrast the responses of pharmacists in a randomly selected sample regarding perceptions of the degree of difficulty and incidence of selected ethical problems in practice according to several relevant variables; (ii) determine the extent and nature of relationships between the responses; (iii) develop differential descriptions of selected subgroups; and (iv) identify implications for ethics education in pharmacy. Data were collected utilizing a 58-item questionnaire. A 22 percent return rate was achieved (N = 869). Significant findings included: (i) family and work experience were most influential on personal ethics; (ii) the majority of respondents had experienced an ethical problem within the past year; and (iii) repondents cited different ethical problems when asked to identify the most commonly occurring problem versus the most difficult to resolve. The results provide quantitative data to develop ethics content in pharmacy curricula.