Professionalism & Ethics Flashcards
7 cards from real ECFMG practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Professionalism & Ethics flashcards as text
A patient requests that his HIV-positive status be withheld from his spouse, who is also a patient in your practice. Your primary ethical obligation is to:
Answer: Warn the spouse because the duty to protect identifiable third parties may override confidentiality
When an identifiable third party faces serious, imminent harm, the duty to warn may override patient confidentiality under Tarasoff-type principles and state law.
An ECFMG-certified physician working in the U.S. is asked by a pharmaceutical company to co-author a paper for a fee without having contributed to the research. This practice is called:
Answer: Ghost authorship
Ghost authorship—lending one's name to work one did not perform—is a form of research misconduct that violates integrity standards.
During an outpatient visit, a physician develops romantic feelings for a patient. The most ethical course of action is to:
Answer: Transfer care to a colleague and then consider pursuing the relationship
Transferring care to remove the physician-patient relationship is the necessary first step; romantic relationships with current patients are always prohibited.
A patient lacks decision-making capacity and has no advance directive. His family is divided on whether to pursue aggressive care. The most appropriate surrogate decision-making standard is:
Answer: Substituted judgment—what the patient would have chosen based on known values
Substituted judgment asks what the patient would have decided based on their known values and previously expressed wishes.
A researcher falsifies data in a federally funded study. This constitutes:
Answer: Scientific misconduct subject to federal investigation and sanctions
Falsifying data in federally funded research is research misconduct under federal regulations, triggering ORI investigation and potential sanctions including debarment.
An IMG physician practicing in the U.S. realizes mid-procedure that a consent form was signed by the patient under a misunderstanding about the risks. The physician should:
Answer: Pause the procedure, re-explain the risks, and obtain valid informed consent
Informed consent requires comprehension; if the patient misunderstood material risks, consent is invalid and must be properly obtained before proceeding.
Which of the following behaviors would most directly violate ECFMG's policies on irregular behavior?
Answer: Having another individual sit for the USMLE Step examination in your place
Having a proxy take a licensing examination is impersonation—a serious form of irregular behavior that can result in permanent ECFMG ineligibility.