Professional Roles, Ethics, and Practice Management
What the exam expects
Know scope of practice, supervision and delegation rules, informed consent, confidentiality, documentation, billing and reimbursement basics, and professional advocacy. Understand ethical principles-autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice-and how they guide decisions when values conflict. Recognize obligations around impaired colleagues, conflicts of interest, and patient rights.
Traps
Questions often present a conflict between patient preference and safety or between efficiency and ethics. A frequent trap is delegating a task outside the assistive personnel's scope or failing to verify competence. Watch for confidentiality breaches (discussing in public areas, social media). Another trap is confusing what is legal with what is ethical-both must be satisfied.
Rule of thumb
When autonomy and safety conflict, respect the patient's informed choice while ensuring they understand risks; document the discussion.
Worked example
A competent patient refuses a recommended intervention after being informed of risks. Respect autonomy, document the informed refusal, offer alternatives, and continue safe care-do not override the decision.