ECC Professional Standards & Ethics 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A patient regains consciousness mid-resuscitation and says 'stop, let me go.' What is the most appropriate immediate action?
- Continue CPR until a physician confirms DNR
- Pause resuscitation and assess decision-making capacity (Correct answer)
- Immediately cease all interventions
- Ask family members to override the patient's request
Correct answer: Pause resuscitation and assess decision-making capacity
A conscious patient with intact decision-making capacity has the right to refuse treatment, requiring rapid capacity assessment before any change in care.
Question 2: Which principle of bioethics obligates ECC providers to act in the patient's best interest?
- Autonomy
- Justice
- Beneficence (Correct answer)
- Non-maleficence
Correct answer: Beneficence
Beneficence requires that healthcare providers take positive actions intended to benefit the patient.
Question 3: During a code, a team member correctly identifies an error in medication dosing but the team leader ignores it. What should the team member do?
- Defer entirely to the team leader's authority
- Quietly administer the correct dose without alerting anyone
- Use closed-loop communication and assertively re-state the concern (Correct answer)
- Abandon the resuscitation team
Correct answer: Use closed-loop communication and assertively re-state the concern
Closed-loop communication and assertiveness are professional obligations when patient safety is at risk, even when challenging authority.
Question 4: A physician verbally orders a dose you believe is tenfold too high. You should:
- Administer the dose because verbal orders from physicians are binding
- Refuse to participate and leave the code
- Clarify and repeat the order back for confirmation before administration (Correct answer)
- Administer half the dose as a compromise
Correct answer: Clarify and repeat the order back for confirmation before administration
Read-back and verification of verbal orders is a professional and safety standard that prevents medication errors.
Question 5: Which ethical framework focuses on following rules and duties regardless of outcome?
- Utilitarianism
- Virtue ethics
- Deontological ethics (Correct answer)
- Principlism
Correct answer: Deontological ethics
Deontological ethics (e.g., Kantian ethics) emphasizes adherence to duties and rules as morally correct independent of consequences.
Question 6: A patient's healthcare proxy is demanding continued aggressive resuscitation after the team has determined the effort is futile. The most appropriate step is:
- Comply with all proxy demands regardless of clinical judgment
- Terminate resuscitation immediately over the proxy's objections
- Engage the ethics committee or palliative care team to facilitate discussion (Correct answer)
- Transfer the patient to another facility without discussion
Correct answer: Engage the ethics committee or palliative care team to facilitate discussion
Ethics consultation provides a structured framework for resolving conflicts between family wishes and medical futility assessments.
Question 7: Maintaining patient privacy during a resuscitation in a shared emergency department bay is an example of which HIPAA principle?
- Minimum necessary standard
- Privacy Rule compliance (Correct answer)
- Breach notification
- Business associate agreement
Correct answer: Privacy Rule compliance
The HIPAA Privacy Rule requires protecting individually identifiable health information even in emergency settings.
ECC Professional Standards & Ethics 2
A patient regains consciousness mid-resuscitation and says 'stop, let me go.' What is the most appropriate immediate action?