Laboratory Ethics, Professionalism and Compliance
This domain tests applied professional ethics: confidentiality, consent, honest reporting, conflict of interest, research integrity and compliance with the Board's code and workplace policies. Questions often use a short scenario and ask for the first or most appropriate action.
Core duties
Put patient welfare first, respect autonomy, avoid harm, keep information confidential and treat people fairly. Consent must be informed and appropriate to the test, especially for HIV, genetic and other sensitive testing, and for research. Results must be reported honestly, accurately and promptly, with critical values escalated through validated channels. Competence is an ethical duty: do not accept work beyond your training.
Confidentiality and boundaries
Share results only with those who need them for care or who are authorised by the patient or law. Do not discuss patients in corridors, social media or unsecured messaging. Passwords and audit trails are ethical controls, not just IT rules. Gifts, hospitality or personal relationships must not influence testing, referral or reporting.
Worked example: a clinician's assistant phones asking for a patient's HIV result because the doctor is busy. The correct response is to verify identity and authority, confirm the patient's consent or the lawful need-to-know, use the approved result-release pathway, and document the disclosure. Reading the result to an unverified caller is a breach even if the caller sounds familiar.
Traps
- Assuming confidentiality ends at death or after a shift handover.
- Releasing results to a relative without consent or legal authority.
- Changing a result to avoid conflict with a clinician.
- Using personal phones or social media for patient data.
- Treating CPD attendance as proof of ethical competence.