Medical Ethics

Clinical record keeping is an integral component in good professional practice and the delivery of quality healthcare. Regardless of the form of the records (i.e. electronic or paper), good clinical record keeping should enable continuity of care and should enhance communication between different healthcare professionals. 

In this online course we will present the importance of keeping good clinical records, ways of facilitating this and an overview of legal aspects linked with clinical record keeping.

The following topics will be covered: 

1. Why do I need to keep good records?

2. What do I need to record and how?

3. Are there any legal issues I should be aware of?

4. Accuracy and legibility of content

5. Confidentiality and data protection

6. Patients’ access to medical records

This online course will discuss the following topics:

• Fear and acceptance of death

• Why do people fear death?

• The Health Professionals response

• Helping patients who have cancer

• Refusing therapy

This online course will discuss the following subjects:

• Sexual harassment

• Drug abuse by professionals

• Fraud

This online teaching will discuss the following issues:

• Whistle-blowing

• Family violence

• Reporting child abuse

• Reporting elder abuse

This on-line course provides frequently asked questions regarding ethical considerations of COVID-19 pandemic for Healthcare Providers.

How can you, as a health care professional balance the needs of the sports team or organization that is paying your bills, the athlete’s (your patient’s) desire to perform while in pain and with injury; and the economic consequences of playing/not playing  for both the athlete and the team/organization? 

This comprehensive course examines some of the difficult legal and ethical issues, the potential consequences surrounding the decisions  sports medicine practitioners have to make in this age of professional sport.  

• confidentiality aspects of disclosure such as injury, use of drugs, alcohol or psychological issues that may impact player’s performance;
• the ethical implications of performance enhancing drugs; and
• playing or competing with an infectious disease.

Ethics relates to far more than a simple understanding of that which is legally permissible in society.  A nuanced understanding of ethical issues adds depth and meaning to what it takes to live as a mature human in an increasingly complex world.  As healthcare practitioners we owe it to ourselves and our patients to act ethically and responsibly so as to benefit all those who seek our help.  

This course provides the perfect introduction to the ethical challenges we face in our practices.

Ethics relates to far more than a simple understanding of that which is legally permissible in society.  A nuanced understanding of ethical issues adds depth and meaning to what it takes to live as a mature human in an increasingly complex world.  As healthcare practitioners we owe it to ourselves and our patients to act ethically and responsibly so as to benefit all those who seek our help. 

This course provides the perfect introduction to the ethical challenges we face in our practices.

There are many ethical dilemmas that are unique to sports medicine because of the unusual clinical environment of caring for players within the context of a team whose primary objective is to win. Sports doctors and health care providers are frequently under intense pressure, whether implicit or explicit, from management, coaches, trainers and agents, to improve the performance of the athlete in the short term rather than consider the long-term sequelae of such decisions. In this course, a number of ethical principles and how they relate to sports medicine are discussed. A list of guidelines has been drawn up to offer some support to doctors and health care providers facing an ethical dilemma, the most important of which is ‘do not hand over your responsibility to the individual player.

The health care profession-patient relationship is the cornerstone of medical practice and therefore of medical ethics. 

This on-line course will discuss:

• Respect and equal treatment

• Ending a patient-HP relationship

• HIV/AIDS

• Sexual attraction

• Treating family members

• Communication & consent, case study #1 included

• Obstacles for good communication plus case study #2   

• Abusing medical resources including case study #3

• Futile treatment

After working through this course, you should be able to:

• explain how medical decisions should be made for patients who are incapable of making their own decisions;

• explain the justification for patient confidentiality and recognise legitimate exceptions;

• recognise the principle ethical issues surrounding the beginning and end of life;

• summarise the arguments for and against the practice of euthanasia/assisted suicide; and the difference between these actions and palliative care or foregoing treatment.

After working through this on-line course you should be able to:

• describe how health care professionals should behave toward one another

• justify reporting colleagues unethical behaviour 

• identify the main ethical principles relating to cooperation with others in the care of patients

• resolve conflicts with other health care providers

After working through this on-line course you should be able to:

• identify the main principles of research ethics.

• know how to balance research and clinical care.

• satisfy the requirements of ethics review committees.

This Ethics course is suitable for Physiotherapists, Biokineticists and Podiatrists in private practice.  It deals with the latest HPCSA regulations on advertising and making professional services known.

The ethics of the placebo: nothing to do with you.  Right? Because placebos are used only in research situations – right? 

Wrong. Placebos are increasingly being used in clinical practice. Indeed, in some instances, use of placebo could even be a moral imperative. However, their use often places the practitioner in a difficult ethical position. Doesn’t using placebo mean you have to lie to your patient? 

This course offers guidelines for using the placebo in your practice.