Patient Safety, Quality Improvement, Ethics and Professionalism
What the exam tests
Safety, quality, ethics, and professionalism questions test systems thinking, human factors, and communication-not just "be careful."
Core rules
- The WHO surgical safety checklist reduces complications when used actively: sign in, time out, sign out.
- Medication errors: label syringes, separate look-alike and sound-alike drugs, use barcodes, and standard concentrations.
- Incident reporting is nonpunitive and feeds root cause analysis; it is not a disciplinary tool.
- Human factors: fatigue, handoffs, hierarchy, and interruption cause errors. Use readbacks and structured handoffs.
- Informed consent requires capacity, disclosure of material risks, alternatives, and voluntariness.
- DNR orders do not automatically cancel anesthesia; clarify goals and specific interventions.
- Resource allocation in disasters uses triage ethics, transparency, and consistency.
Worked example
A syringe swap causes a patient to receive ephedrine instead of phenylephrine. The correct response: treat the patient, report the incident, preserve equipment, and participate in root cause analysis. Reasoning: the aim is system correction-labels, storage, double-checks-not blaming an individual.
Traps
Treating checklist completion as a tick-box; assuming consent is a signature; delaying treatment to investigate; breaching confidentiality in case discussions.