ACC Ethical Practices & Professional Conduct 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A chaplain discovers that a colleague has been sharing confidential patient information in casual staff conversations. What is the most appropriate first step?
- Ignore it to avoid conflict with the colleague
- Confront the colleague privately and explain the ethical violation (Correct answer)
- Immediately report the colleague to administration without speaking to them first
- Begin documenting incidents without taking any action
Correct answer: Confront the colleague privately and explain the ethical violation
Direct collegial conversation addressing the breach privately is typically the appropriate first step before escalating to formal reporting.
Question 2: Which principle best describes a chaplain's obligation to avoid using their position of spiritual authority to influence a patient's financial or personal decisions?
- Beneficence
- Nonmaleficence
- Non-exploitation (Correct answer)
- Veracity
Correct answer: Non-exploitation
Non-exploitation prohibits chaplains from leveraging their trusted role for personal gain or to unduly influence vulnerable individuals.
Question 3: A chaplain is asked by a family to withhold a terminal diagnosis from their elderly parent. How should the chaplain respond?
- Comply with the family's request to preserve family harmony
- Refuse to participate in withholding information and report the situation to the care team (Correct answer)
- Tell the patient the diagnosis directly without consulting the team
- Avoid the patient entirely to sidestep the conflict
Correct answer: Refuse to participate in withholding information and report the situation to the care team
Chaplains support patient autonomy and must collaborate with the care team rather than colluding with information withholding that violates the patient's right to know.
Question 4: According to professional chaplaincy ethics, which best describes the concept of 'scope of practice'?
- The geographic region a chaplain is licensed to serve
- The spiritual traditions a chaplain is permitted to represent
- The boundaries defining what tasks and roles a chaplain is trained and authorized to perform (Correct answer)
- The number of patients a chaplain can see per shift
Correct answer: The boundaries defining what tasks and roles a chaplain is trained and authorized to perform
Scope of practice defines the competencies, roles, and limitations within which a chaplain must operate to ensure safe and ethical care.
Question 5: A chaplain feels strong personal grief when a long-term patient dies. What is the ethically appropriate response?
- Suppress the grief entirely to maintain professionalism
- Seek peer support or clinical supervision to process the loss (Correct answer)
- Share the grief openly with the patient's family in detail
- Take an extended leave immediately without notifying supervisors
Correct answer: Seek peer support or clinical supervision to process the loss
Seeking peer support or supervision allows the chaplain to process personal grief while maintaining professional capacity and self-care obligations.
Question 6: When a chaplain disagrees with a patient's end-of-life decision that is legally and ethically valid, the chaplain should:
- Attempt to persuade the patient to change their decision
- Withdraw care and refer the patient to another chaplain if unable to support the decision neutrally (Correct answer)
- Document disagreement in the chart to create a legal record
- Contact the patient's religious leader to intervene
Correct answer: Withdraw care and refer the patient to another chaplain if unable to support the decision neutrally
If a chaplain cannot support a valid patient decision without imposing personal values, ethical practice requires referral to ensure the patient receives unbiased spiritual care.
Question 7: Which action by a chaplain would be considered a dual-role conflict?
- Providing spiritual care to a patient of a different faith
- Serving as both the chaplain and the primary social worker for the same patient (Correct answer)
- Visiting multiple patients in the same department on one shift
- Attending an interfaith worship service outside of work
Correct answer: Serving as both the chaplain and the primary social worker for the same patient
Occupying two professional roles with the same patient creates a dual-role conflict that compromises objectivity and ethical boundaries.
ACC Ethical Practices & Professional Conduct 2
A chaplain discovers that a colleague has been sharing confidential patient information in casual staff conversations.
What is the most appropriate first step?