You are here: Home / About the Faculty / Faculty Staff / Academic Staff

Dr Betty Chaar

Lecturer, Pharmacy Practice

Qualifications

B.Pharm, Master of Health Law (MHL), PhD

Contact Details

University of Sydney
Phone: +61 2 9036 7101
Fax: +61 2 9036 7097
Email:
Room: N508
Pharmacy Building A15
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia

Research Interests

Dr Chaar’s work centres on promoting moral reasoning in the delivery of healthcare services by pharmacists in all aspects of practice, ranging from the everyday matters of pharmacy practice to considerations regarding issues in the broader domain of bioethics.

In teaching, researching and writing about professional ethics in pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry, Dr Chaar’s focus is to heighten ethical literacy in the profession and enable pharmacists to reflect on ethical implications of their role in healthcare to society in general and to the individual specifically.

Students have greatly benefited from the short course in professional ethics designed and delivered at the Faculty of Pharmacy by Dr Chaar. This course has evolved as a result of the research invested in this topic and is based on analysis of the plethora of ethical dilemmas that may challenge the pharmacist in practice. Students enjoy the open Socratic dialogue and exchange various perspectives to arrive at a richer, in-depth understanding of the issues at hand. This approach creates awareness and enhances moral reasoning skills, allowing students to better understand the moral responsibilities of pharmacy practice and professional conduct expected of them by society.

One of the projects that Dr Chaar is exploring involves researching impairment, in the form of trauma, substance abuse or mental illness, which is a recognised problem amongst health care professionals. The impact impairment could have on patient safety is of particular significance to all stakeholders in health care. The aim is to determine the scope of the problem of impairment in the student and professional population of pharmacy in Australia and to propose a support program providing education, counselling and therapeutic assistance to pharmacists.

Another area of interest Dr Chaar is investigating is the ethics of Direct-to-Consumer-Advertising (DTCA) and its impact on pharmacy practice. From the research recently conducted interviewing practitioners in Sydney, it was found that pharmacists in Australia find DTCA has the effect of disempowering their capabilities of safeguarding patient safety and quality use of medicines (QUM). It was also found in another study, that despite Australian regulatory restrictions to DTCA of prescription medicines, consumers have easy access to DTCA by simply conducting a health-related search on the Internet. Further research is being conducted in this field.

Back to Top

Higher Degree Research Candidates

  • El Samman, Fadwa
    Master of Philosophy
    "Medicine and disease information needs of older Arabic-speaking Australians"
    Start: February 2007
    Submit: July 2009
    Primary Supervisor: Aslani
    Secondary Supervisors: McLachlan & Chaar

Select Journal Articles

  1. Chaar, B., Brien, J., and Krass, I. (2005). Professional ethics in pharmacy: the Australian experience. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice 13, 195-204.
  2. Chaar, B., Brien, J., and Krass, I., Professional Ethics in Pharmacy Practice - Developing a psychometric measure of moral reasoning. Pharmacy World and Medicine DOI: 10.1007/s11096-009-9292-1 [in print] April 2009
  3. Chaar, B. “Decisions, Decisions, Decisions…ethical dilemmas in practice!” Cover Story. Australian Pharmacist June, 2006 Vol.25, No.6. pp 444-449.
  4. Chaar, B. “Introducing the new SHPA Code of Ethics” Editorial. Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research Vol. 36, No.1 March 2006.
  5. Chaar, B. Off-Label Dispensing: An Ethical and Legal Dilemma. Australian Pharmacist, January 2008, Vol 27, No.1 p56-59
  6. Chaar, B. To sell or not to sell? Australian Pharmacist Page 185; volume 25; Number 3; March 2006
  7. Chaar, B., Kwong, K., Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: Pharmacists' Perspectives (manuscript IJP-D-08-00111) International Journal of Pharmacy Practice [pending review]April 2009
  8. Chaar, B., Penm, J. Misconduct: the Pitfall of Pharmacy Practice-A systematic review and analysis of cases of misconduct in Australia. Submitted to Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research April 2009
  9. Chaar, B., Williams, K., Aslani, P., Gu, P. The Australian Consumer and DTCA on the Internet submitted to The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health May 2009
Back to Top