Law, Ethics, and Professionalism Flashcards
6 cards from real MJDF practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Law, Ethics, and Professionalism flashcards as text
A dentist is found to have committed 'serious professional misconduct' by the GDC's Fitness to Practise panel. Which of the following sanctions could the panel impose?
Answer: A range of sanctions from a caution order to erasure from the dental register, depending on severity
The GDC Fitness to Practise panel can impose a spectrum of sanctions: advice, a caution order, conditions of practice order, suspension order, or erasure from the register — the severity depends on the seriousness of the concern.
Which of the following statements about informed consent in dentistry is CORRECT?
Answer: Consent must be voluntary, given by a person with capacity, and based on adequate information about the treatment, alternatives, and risks
Valid informed consent requires three elements: the patient must have capacity, must act voluntarily (without undue pressure), and must receive adequate information. The form of consent (written vs. verbal) is secondary to whether these elements are met.
In the UK, the NHS GDS (General Dental Services) contract works on a Unit of Dental Activity (UDA) system. What is a Band 3 course of treatment?
Answer: Complex treatment including crowns, dentures, bridges, or any treatment requiring laboratory work
Band 3 NHS dental treatment covers complex restorative and prosthetic work including crowns, bridges, and dentures — it attracts the highest patient charge and the most UDAs (12 UDAs per course of treatment).
A patient who has received dental treatment and is dissatisfied wants to make a complaint. What is the FIRST step in the complaints process in an NHS dental practice in England?
Answer: Using the practice's own internal complaints procedure
NHS regulations require dental practices to have an internal complaints procedure. Patients should first exhaust the practice's complaints process; escalation to NHS England/NHSEI or other bodies comes if the internal process fails to resolve the complaint satisfactorily.
What does 'clinical governance' mean in the context of dental practice?
Answer: A framework through which dental organisations are accountable for continuously improving quality and safeguarding high standards of care
Clinical governance is the systematic approach by which healthcare organisations, including dental practices, take responsibility for continuously improving the quality of their services and ensuring safe, effective, patient-centred care.
Which of the following correctly describes the concept of 'beneficence' in dental ethics?
Answer: The duty to act in the best interests of the patient and to provide positive benefits to them
Beneficence is the positive duty to act in the patient's best interests and to produce benefit. It is distinct from non-maleficence (the duty to avoid harm), though both work together in clinical decision-making.