Professional Conduct, Ethics, and Unprofessional or Prohibited Conduct
The conduct standard
Minnesota's Board rules list conduct that constitutes unprofessional conduct, and the statute provides grounds for discipline. Core themes: honesty with patients and the Board, competence within scope, safety, and respect for confidentiality and autonomy. Typical prohibited conduct includes fraud or misrepresentation in billing or licensure, practicing beyond scope, negligence or incompetence, abandoning a patient mid-treatment without arranging transfer, failing to obtain informed consent, breaching confidentiality, practicing while impaired, and failing to cooperate with a Board investigation. Delegating to unlicensed or unsupervised personnel and aiding unlicensed practice are also violations.
Ethics in daily hygiene practice
Informed refusal is documented, not argued. Patients may decline radiographs or periodontal therapy; the hygienist explains risk, records the refusal, and continues appropriate care. Advertising must not be false or misleading, and guarantees of outcome are risky. A single act, not a pattern, can support discipline.
Worked example
A hygienist posts a photo of a striking radiograph on a personal social account with the caption "guess the patient." Even without a name, the image plus details may identify the patient. This is a confidentiality breach and unprofessional conduct; deleting it does not erase the exposure.
Traps
- Believing a colleague's encouragement makes an out-of-scope act ethical.
- Ignoring a Board inquiry - noncooperation is itself a ground for discipline.
- Assuming only "big" fraud counts; charting services not performed is a classic violation.