CCS Ethics, Legalities, and Professionalism 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A care specialist discovers that a colleague is falsifying client progress notes. What is the most appropriate first step?
- Confront the colleague directly and demand they stop
- Report the behavior to a supervisor or ethics officer per facility policy (Correct answer)
- Ignore it since it does not involve your clients
- Inform the client's family immediately
Correct answer: Report the behavior to a supervisor or ethics officer per facility policy
Falsifying documentation is fraud; the correct first step is to report it through proper internal channels as outlined in facility policy.
Question 2: Which federal law primarily governs the privacy of health information and grants patients the right to access their own records?
- OSHA
- ADA
- HIPAA (Correct answer)
- FMLA
Correct answer: HIPAA
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) sets national standards for protecting patients' health information and grants access rights.
Question 3: A client refuses a prescribed medication. How should the care specialist respond?
- Administer it anyway to ensure the client's health
- Document the refusal, inform the supervising nurse, and respect the client's decision (Correct answer)
- Convince the family to override the client's refusal
- Withhold meals until the client agrees to take the medication
Correct answer: Document the refusal, inform the supervising nurse, and respect the client's decision
Competent clients have the right to refuse treatment; the specialist must document, notify the appropriate clinician, and honor autonomy.
Question 4: When a care specialist accepts a substantial gift from a grateful client, this primarily raises concerns about:
- Scope of practice violations
- Professional boundary violations (Correct answer)
- Mandatory reporting obligations
- Infection control protocols
Correct answer: Professional boundary violations
Accepting significant gifts can blur professional boundaries and create real or perceived conflicts of interest, violating professional codes of conduct.
Question 5: Which ethical principle requires the care specialist to act in the client's best interest, even when the client cannot advocate for themselves?
- Non-maleficence
- Justice
- Beneficence (Correct answer)
- Veracity
Correct answer: Beneficence
Beneficence means taking positive action to benefit the client and promote their well-being.
Question 6: A client tells a care specialist they plan to harm a specific person. Under the Tarasoff duty-to-warn principle, the specialist must:
- Keep the information confidential as protected health information
- Warn the potential victim and notify appropriate authorities (Correct answer)
- Only document the statement in the chart
- Transfer the client to a different unit without disclosure
Correct answer: Warn the potential victim and notify appropriate authorities
The Tarasoff principle establishes a legal and ethical duty to protect identifiable third parties from credible threats of harm.
Question 7: An advance directive that specifically designates another person to make healthcare decisions is called a:
- Living will
- DNR order
- Durable power of attorney for healthcare (Correct answer)
- POLST form
Correct answer: Durable power of attorney for healthcare
A durable power of attorney for healthcare (healthcare proxy) names a specific agent to make medical decisions if the patient loses capacity.
CCS Ethics, Legalities, and Professionalism 2
A care specialist discovers that a colleague is falsifying client progress notes.
What is the most appropriate first step?