Cheating the Profession

In the recent May 1^st issue of the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, an article titled, “Promoting academic integrity among health care students” identified some of the barriers to academic honesty in pharmacy school as well as actions taken by academic institutions to reduce academic dishonesty. As a pharmacy student, I was able to connect with many of the concerns raised in the article. In any health care academic setting there is great pressure placed on students to perform with academic excellence. This can become a great burden for students, and it does not surprise me that many students turn to cheating in response to stress created by the academic system. I do not condone cheating but I absolutely understand how it happens, and often frequently, in challenging programs like pharmacy.

It concerns me that cheating is common in professional schools as I think forward to the critical roles these students will have in decision making and care for patients. According to the article, individuals who have participated in academic dishonesty are more likely to have professional misconduct later in their career. In a profession such as pharmacy, which is detail oriented and focused on the transparency of information, there is absolutely no tolerance for professional dishonesty. At the most basic level, individual’s lives and wellbeing are dependent on the honesty of pharmacists and their ability to be accountable for their actions. I hope pharmacy schools will continue to evaluate their testing methods to decrease academic dishonesty, yet in the end, it is up to each individual student to choose to be academically honest and accountable.