Ethics and Professional Practice Flashcards
7 cards from real AMC MCQ practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Ethics and Professional Practice flashcards as text
A colleague appears to be drinking alcohol before clinical shifts and you have witnessed errors. What is your first professional obligation?
Answer: Address patient safety, which may require a mandatory notification to AHPRA
Patient safety takes priority and impairment risking patients is notifiable conduct.
A dying patient asks you to actively end their life. In most Australian jurisdictions with VAD laws, what is required?
Answer: Strict eligibility criteria, multiple assessments, and formal legal process must be followed
Voluntary assisted dying, where legal, requires strict eligibility, multiple independent assessments, and legal safeguards.
You realise you made a medication error that caused minor patient harm. Open disclosure principles require you to do what?
Answer: Honestly inform the patient, apologise, and explain what happened and next steps
Open disclosure requires honest, timely communication and an apology to the affected patient.
A patient's adult child demands information about the patient's diagnosis. The competent patient has not consented. What should you do?
Answer: Maintain confidentiality unless the patient consents or a legal exception applies
Patient confidentiality must be maintained without consent, even with close relatives.
Which best describes the ethical principle of 'justice' in clinical practice?
Answer: Fair distribution of resources and equitable treatment of patients
Justice concerns fairness and equitable allocation of healthcare resources and treatment.
A research participant wants to withdraw from a clinical trial midway. What is the correct response?
Answer: Allow withdrawal at any time without penalty or impact on their care
Participants may withdraw from research at any time without penalty or effect on their ongoing care.
A patient with intellectual disability needs a procedure but cannot consent. Who is the appropriate decision-maker?
Answer: A legally recognised substitute decision-maker or guardian, acting in the patient's best interests
A legally authorised substitute decision-maker or guardian must consent on behalf of a patient lacking capacity.