Professional Ethics, Communication and Health Law
Domain focus
Ethics, communication and health law questions test informed consent, confidentiality, mandatory reporting, scope of practice, critical result communication and respectful patient interaction under Cambodian health law and professional codes.
Core rules
- Obtain informed consent before invasive sampling or research; explain purpose, risks and alternatives in a language the patient understands.
- Keep patient information confidential; share only on a need-to-know basis.
- Disclose a critical result directly to the responsible clinician and document the time, person and read-back.
- Report notifiable diseases to public health authorities as required, using the minimum necessary identifiers.
- Work within your authorised scope; refer uncertain results rather than guessing.
Worked example
A patient's HIV test is confirmed positive and he asks that his spouse not be told. The laboratory must not disclose directly to the spouse. The correct reasoning: confidentiality is the default, but the clinician should offer partner notification through trained counselling services and follow national HIV disclosure guidance. The laboratory reports the case to the surveillance system without identifying details and documents who received the result.
Traps
- Discussing results in corridors or on social media.
- Disclosing HIV status to family members without consent.
- Releasing a critical result only by putting it in the pending tray.
- Performing tests outside your authorised scope.