Professional Standards and Ethics Flashcards

A consultant anaesthetist discovers a colleague is performing procedures while impaired by alcohol. What is the FIRST appropriate action?

Answer: Notify the department head or clinical lead as per hospital policy

The first step is to follow institutional reporting pathways by notifying the department head, while ensuring patient safety is maintained.

Under the ANZCA Code of Professional Conduct, what principle governs the duty to disclose a near-miss event to a patient?

Answer: Open disclosure — honesty and transparency with patients

Open disclosure is the specific ANZCA and Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care framework requiring honest communication of adverse events with patients.

A patient who lacks decision-making capacity requires emergency surgery. No next of kin is reachable. The anaesthetist should:

Answer: Proceed on the basis of necessity and best interests, documenting reasoning

In a genuine emergency where delay would cause serious harm, clinicians may act on the principle of necessity in the patient's best interests without formal consent.

Which of the following best describes the concept of 'therapeutic privilege' in the context of informed consent?

Answer: The right of a physician to withhold information if disclosure would harm the patient

Therapeutic privilege is the controversial doctrine that allows withholding information if disclosure itself would cause significant psychological harm, though it is rarely accepted in modern Australian law.

A trainee anaesthetist is asked by a supervisor to falsify a logbook entry. The trainee should:

Answer: Refuse and report the request to the training committee or ANZCA

Falsifying training records is a serious breach of professional integrity; the trainee must refuse and escalate through appropriate channels such as the college or training committee.

Regarding social media use, ANZCA's professional standards require Fellows to:

Answer: Ensure patient privacy is maintained and professional conduct upheld in all online activity

ANZCA guidance states that professionals must maintain patient confidentiality and uphold the profession's reputation in all online and social media activity.

A patient revokes consent for a regional block after induction of general anaesthesia. The most appropriate response is:

Answer: Document the refusal and omit the block from the anaesthetic plan

A competent patient's earlier refusal of a specific component must be respected; the block should not be performed without valid consent, and the clinical plan adjusted accordingly.