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Ethics and Ethical Standards for Doctors

Course Description

Ethics and Ethical Standards for Doctors is a comprehensive CPD course designed for all doctors, at every stage of their career, who wish to strengthen ethical reasoning, moral judgement, and defensible clinical decision-making. The course explores core bioethical principles, consent and capacity, confidentiality dilemmas, end-of-life care, justice and resource allocation, conflicts of interest, and ethical boundaries with patients and colleagues.

This programme is particularly valuable for doctors undertaking continuing professional development (CPD), as well as those facing a fitness to practise investigation, inquiry, or regulatory scrutiny by the General Medical Council. It supports structured ethical reflection, development of insight, and demonstration of remediation where concerns relate to judgement, honesty, boundaries, or patient welfare.

Through clinically grounded analysis and reflective learning, participants develop deeper ethical maturity, stronger documentation practices, and enhanced confidence in managing complex moral dilemmas in modern medical practice.

Course Content

Course Objectives
Course Objectives
Section 1: Foundations of Medical Ethics
1.1 What Is Medical Ethics?
1.2 Ethical Theory in Clinical Practice
1.3 The Role of Ethical Standards in Modern Medicine
1.4 Ethical Accountability and the GMC
1.5 Reflective Quiz
Section 2: Core Principles of Biomedical Ethics
2.1 Autonomy
2.2 Beneficence
2.3 Non-Maleficence
2.4 Justice
2.5 Balancing Competing Principles
2.6 Structured Ethical Analysis
2.7 Reflective Quiz
Section 3: Consent, Capacity, and Ethical Decision-Making
3.1 Valid Informed Consent
3.2 Assessing Capacity
3.3 Best Interests Decision-Making
3.4 Refusal of Treatment
3.5 Ethical Complexity in Shared Decision-Making
3.6 Reflective Quiz
Section 4: Confidentiality, Disclosure, and Ethical Tensions
4.1 The Ethical Basis of Confidentiality
4.2 Limits of Confidentiality
4.3 Safeguarding and Ethical Reporting
4.4 Managing Competing Duties
4.5 Digital Confidentiality and Modern Risks
4.6 Ethical Documentation in Disclosure Decisions
4.7 Reflective Quiz
Section 5: Ethical Challenges in Clinical Practice
5.1 Justice and Fairness in Clinical Practice
5.2 Resource Allocation and Distributive Justice
5.3 Conscientious Objection
5.4 Conflicts of Interest
5.5 System Pressures and Ethical Compromise
5.6 Reflective Quiz
Section 6: Ethical Boundaries with Patients and Colleagues
6.1 Power Imbalance in the Doctor–Patient Relationship
6.2 Sexual and Emotional Boundaries
6.3 Financial and Dual Relationships
6.4 Boundaries with Vulnerable Patients
6.5 Professional Boundaries with Colleagues
6.6 Early Warning Signs of Boundary Drift
6.7 Regulatory Implications of Boundary Breaches
6.8 Reflective Quiz
Section 7: Ethical Failures, Moral Distress, and Insight
7.1 Recognising Ethical Lapses
7.2 Moral Distress and System Pressures
7.3 Ethical Blind Spots and Cognitive Bias
7.4 Insight and Ethical Reflection
7.5 Developing Ethical Maturity
7.6 Reflective Quiz
Section 8: Fitness to Practise and Remediation in Ethical Cases
8.1 When Ethical Concerns Become Fitness-to-Practise Concerns
8.2 Insight in Fitness-to-Practise Decision-Making
8.3 Structured Ethical Reflection for Regulatory Contexts
8.4 Remediation in Ethical Cases
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