Standards of professional conduct and patient care obligations
Professional conduct and patient care
This domain tests the standard of care and fiduciary duties that attach to a Kansas optometry license, apart from technical scope questions.
Core rules
- Practice within the standard of care: history, appropriate examination, differential diagnosis, treatment or referral, and follow-up consistent with the patient's presentation.
- Obtain informed consent for treatment and for release of information. Consent must be documented, not presumed from a signed form alone.
- Recognize and manage emergencies. Sudden vision loss, acute red eye with pain, trauma, or suspected retinal detachment requires urgent referral; do not schedule a routine return visit.
- Do not abandon a patient. If terminating the relationship, give notice, provide records, and allow time for transfer care.
- Advertising must be truthful and not misleading; avoid guarantees and unsubstantiated superiority claims.
- Maintain boundaries, protect against impairment, and report conduct required by law.
Worked example
A patient reports a curtain over one eye and flashes. The optometrist performs dilation and finds a possible retinal detachment, then refers immediately to a retinal specialist. The record should show the symptoms, acuity, fundus findings, the call, the referral time, and that the patient was warned to go to the emergency department if symptoms worsen. The mark-earning point is not the diagnosis alone; it is the documented urgency and closed-loop referral.
Traps
Documenting only the final diagnosis; referring without confirming the patient understood; treating an emergency as routine; failing to document refused referral; letting staff give clinical advice outside delegation rules.