MSRA Professional Standards and Ethics 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: You are concerned that your own health condition may be affecting your clinical performance. What does GMC guidance require?
- Seek medical advice and take action to protect patients (Correct answer)
- Continue working unless a patient directly complains
- Self-prescribe treatment and monitor yourself
- Disclose your condition only if it is listed on the GMC register
Correct answer: Seek medical advice and take action to protect patients
GMC Good Medical Practice requires doctors to recognise when their health may be affecting their work and to seek appropriate advice.
Question 2: What is the primary purpose of a significant event analysis (SEA) in general practice?
- To learn from incidents and improve patient safety systems (Correct answer)
- To assign blame and initiate disciplinary action
- To document events for medicolegal protection
- To inform the patient and relatives about errors made
Correct answer: To learn from incidents and improve patient safety systems
SEA is a reflective process aimed at identifying learning and system improvements rather than attributing individual blame.
Question 3: A patient lacks capacity and has no advance directive. Decisions should be made in their:
- Best interests, involving those close to them where possible (Correct answer)
- Best interests as determined solely by the treating consultant
- Accordance with what the family requests
- Accordance with standard treatment protocols only
Correct answer: Best interests, involving those close to them where possible
When a patient lacks capacity and has no advance directive, clinicians must act in their best interests, consulting relevant others as part of the process.
Question 4: A pharmaceutical company offers you a paid speaking engagement that promotes one of their drugs. What should you do?
- Declare any interest and only accept if the content is evidence-based and independent (Correct answer)
- Decline all such offers as they are always inappropriate
- Accept because speaking fees are separate from prescribing decisions
- Accept if the drug is on your local formulary
Correct answer: Declare any interest and only accept if the content is evidence-based and independent
Conflicts of interest involving industry must be declared and managed; involvement is acceptable only when clinical independence is maintained.
Question 5: During a consultation you suspect a patient is a victim of domestic abuse. They deny any abuse is occurring. What is the best response?
- Provide information about support services and ensure they know how to access help (Correct answer)
- Make a mandatory referral to social services immediately
- Accept the denial and do not raise the topic again
- Inform the police because you have a duty to protect the patient
Correct answer: Provide information about support services and ensure they know how to access help
Patients should be given information about available support while their autonomy and confidentiality are respected unless there is immediate risk.
Question 6: A junior colleague makes a minor prescribing error that is caught before it reaches the patient. What is the most appropriate action?
- Complete an incident report and use it as a learning opportunity (Correct answer)
- Ignore it since no harm occurred
- Report the colleague to the GMC
- Informally warn the colleague never to make an error again
Correct answer: Complete an incident report and use it as a learning opportunity
Near-miss events should be reported through incident reporting systems to enable system-level learning and prevent future errors.
Question 7: What does the ethical principle of veracity require of a clinician?
- Honesty with patients about their diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment options (Correct answer)
- Telling patients only what they need to know to consent
- Avoiding sharing information that could distress the patient
- Providing truthful information only when directly asked
Correct answer: Honesty with patients about their diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment options
Veracity requires clinicians to be truthful and transparent with patients as a foundation of the therapeutic relationship.
MSRA Professional Standards and Ethics 3
You are concerned that your own health condition may be affecting your clinical performance.
What does GMC guidance require?