Patient Rights, Informed Consent, Confidentiality, and Professional Conduct
Informed consent
Informed consent is a process, not a signature. The PT must explain the proposed intervention, its expected benefits, material risks, alternatives (including no treatment), and answer the patient's questions. Consent must be voluntary and the patient must have capacity. Questions often test whether consent can be delegated: the PT responsible for the intervention is the appropriate person to obtain consent, though staff may assist with paperwork. Traps include treating a signed form as sufficient when the patient did not understand, and assuming consent obtained for one intervention covers a different one.
Confidentiality and privacy
Patient information is protected. The exam expects you to know that disclosure requires authorization or a legal exception, and that casual or public discussion of identifiable patient information is a breach. Traps include: discussing a patient in a public area; disclosing to a family member without the patient's permission; and assuming that because a colleague is involved in care, any information may be shared freely-sharing should be limited to those who need it for treatment.
Professional conduct and boundaries
Professional conduct includes honesty, respect, avoiding conflicts of interest, and maintaining appropriate boundaries. Boundary violations-exploiting the therapeutic relationship, accepting inappropriate gifts, or engaging in dual relationships that impair judgment-are disciplinary matters. Questions often present a "gray area" and ask what the professional should do. The reliable answer is the one that protects the patient, discloses the conflict, and follows policy.
Worked rule of thumb
For any consent or confidentiality scenario, ask: Would the patient, fully informed, agree to this? If the answer is uncertain, obtain explicit authorization or decline to disclose.
Trap to avoid
Do not equate a signed form with valid consent. Capacity, understanding, and voluntariness matter.