Professional Ethics, Legislation and Practice Standards
Ethical and legal framework
Physiotherapy practice is governed by professional standards, codes of conduct, and legislation on consent, confidentiality, and record keeping. Understand the four ethical principles: autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. Know the requirements for informed consent, capacity assessment, and the duty to act in the patient's best interests when capacity is absent.
Confidentiality: disclose only with consent or where legally required. Record keeping: contemporaneous, accurate, legible, and retained per regulation. Scope of practice: work within your competence and refer when outside it. Understand professional boundaries, the duty to report concerns, and the management of complaints.
Traps
Questions often test whether informed consent requires a signature (it does not; it requires understanding and voluntary agreement). Another trap is disclosing information to a family member without consent. Watch for items on mandatory reporting and on the correct response to a colleague practising unsafely (report through proper channels).
Rule of thumb
For any ethical dilemma, ask: what does the patient want (autonomy), what is in their best interest (beneficence), what could cause harm (non-maleficence), and what is fair (justice)? Document your reasoning. Ethical questions usually reward the option that respects patient autonomy and professional accountability.