Academic Dishonesty: Whose Fault is it Anyway?

As health professionals, we must follow high ethical standards to ensure we “consider the welfare of humanity and relief of suffering.”1 As researchers, we also adhere to high ethical standards to ensure the outcomes of our research hold up to the rigor of best practices and scrutiny of peer review. In pharmacy education, we expect nothing less from our students. We can all agree there is no room for cheating when it comes to providing high quality patient care, when the lack of knowledge or skill can result in a devastating event or even loss of life. The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) evaluates efforts of colleges and schools of pharmacy to ensure academic integrity and professionalism of pharmacy students,2 and most institutions have established a code of professional conduct and go to great lengths to maintain these expectations. Given the focus on personal and professional development in the 2016 ACPE Standards, addressing cheating early can help ensure ethical behavior in practice because academic dishonesty is associated with unethical business practices.3,4 Yet, as faculty members and administrators, we continue to deal with academic dishonesty among our students