Professional Ethics & Standards Flashcards
7 cards from real CAA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Professional Ethics & Standards flashcards as text
A patient refuses a blood transfusion on religious grounds even though the anesthesiologist believes it is necessary. What is the CAA's ethical obligation?
Answer: Document the refusal and respect the competent patient's autonomy
Competent adult patients have the right to refuse any treatment, including life-saving transfusions, and this decision must be respected and documented.
Which organization publishes the primary scope of practice standards for Certified Anesthesiologist Assistants?
Answer: American Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants (AAAA)
The AAAA (now part of the American Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants) establishes and publishes the professional scope of practice for CAAs.
A CAA discovers that a colleague is consistently falsifying anesthesia records. The most appropriate first step is to:
Answer: Report the behavior through appropriate institutional channels
Falsifying medical records is a serious ethical and legal violation that must be reported through proper institutional channels, such as risk management or administration.
Informed consent for anesthesia is considered legally and ethically valid only when the patient:
Answer: Has decision-making capacity, receives adequate information, and consents voluntarily
Valid informed consent requires the patient to have capacity, receive material information about risks/benefits/alternatives, and agree without coercion.
Under the ethical principle of justice in healthcare, a CAA should:
Answer: Provide equitable care regardless of socioeconomic status or background
Justice requires fair distribution of healthcare resources and equitable treatment of all patients without discrimination based on socioeconomic or personal factors.
A CAA who accepts gifts from pharmaceutical representatives in exchange for preferential use of their products has violated which ethical principle?
Answer: Fidelity
Fidelity requires loyalty to patients' best interests, and accepting gifts that influence prescribing or product selection places the provider's interests above the patient's.
When a patient lacks decision-making capacity and has no advance directive, who typically serves as the surrogate decision-maker?
Answer: The next of kin or legally authorized representative using substituted judgment
When a patient lacks capacity and has no advance directive, the surrogate (usually next of kin) applies substituted judgment to decide as the patient would have wished.