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Soaring Prescription Drug Prices

As nurses, we take pride in our concern about the ‘‘whole patient.’’ Thus, it stands to reason that an essential part of nursing care, regardless of setting or specialty, is knowing how patients pay for their prescription medications and the extent to which they can afford out of pocket drug costs. It’s one thing to give patients a prescription or fax it to a pharmacy. It’s another thing to know if they were able to afford and obtain the medication. We have an ethical responsibility to our patients and profession to learn about the economics and politics of prescription drug costs. Let’s consider the policies and politics of prescription drug costs and what actions nurses might take in response. Muting our voices in the deliberations on prescription drug pricing would be a serious policy and political oversight.