Patient Safety & Ethical Practices Flashcards
7 cards from real ABEM practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Patient Safety & Ethical Practices flashcards as text
A patient with HIV is referred for EMG. The most appropriate safety approach is to:
Answer: Apply standard precautions consistently, as with any patient
Standard precautions are designed to protect against bloodborne pathogens for all patients regardless of known infection status.
Which of the following scenarios represents an inappropriate billing practice in electrodiagnostic medicine?
Answer: Billing for nerve conduction studies not performed during the session
Billing for services not rendered constitutes fraud and violates federal and state laws as well as medical ethics.
Documentation in an electrodiagnostic report should include which of the following to meet ethical and legal standards?
Answer: All muscles and nerves tested, waveform measurements, and clinical interpretation
Complete documentation of all tested muscles and nerves, measurements, and interpretation is required for clinical, legal, and billing accountability.
A patient expresses significant anxiety about needle EMG and asks if there is an alternative. The most appropriate response is to:
Answer: Explain what information needle EMG provides and discuss whether the clinical question can be answered without it
Respecting patient autonomy requires honest discussion of what information needle EMG provides and whether an alternative approach can meet the diagnostic need.
In electrodiagnostic practice, the duty to maintain patient confidentiality may be ethically overridden when:
Answer: The patient poses an imminent credible threat of serious harm to an identifiable third party
Confidentiality can be breached to protect identifiable third parties from imminent serious harm, consistent with the Tarasoff principle and public safety obligations.
Which of the following electrode application practices BEST reduces the risk of patient burns during nerve conduction studies?
Answer: Ensuring adequate gel contact, avoiding current flow across compromised skin, and checking equipment regularly
Proper gel application, avoiding damaged skin, and equipment maintenance minimize the risk of electrical burns during nerve conduction studies.
An electrodiagnostician is asked to perform studies on a patient who is also their personal friend. The BEST ethical approach is to:
Answer: Disclose the relationship, consider referring to a colleague, and document the decision
Personal relationships create potential conflicts of interest that should be disclosed and ideally managed by referral to a colleague.