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Profession-specific course

Ethics and Ethical Standards for Doctors

Applying Good Medical Practice to Real Clinical Decisions

  • 2 CPD hoursEstimated learning time
  • 15-question assessmentPass mark 80%
  • Online, self-pacedStart any time
  • CertificateFor your CPD records

Written for

About this course

Good medical practice tells doctors to be honest, ethical and trustworthy, and then leaves a great deal to judgement. That is deliberate: no code can anticipate every situation. But it means the hardest moments in medicine are often the ones the code does not resolve for you, such as a sympathetic request for a backdated certificate, a family pleading for treatment the patient has refused, a confidentiality dilemma involving a commercial driver, or a clinic that expects you to prescribe its own products.

This course gives doctors a practical ethical toolkit. It introduces the frameworks that underpin medical ethics and a step-by-step decision method you can use in clinical time, then applies them to the dilemmas Australian doctors meet most often: conscientious objection and access to care, bias and public comment, confidentiality and its legal limits, self-treatment and care of family, gifts and industry, financial conflicts under Ahpra's 2026 interim guidance, end-of-life decisions and voluntary assisted dying, and the ethical courage to disclose errors and speak up.

It is written for Australian practice, notes where state and territory law differs, and is designed as the ethics half of a pair: conduct, CPD and records are covered in the companion professionalism course for doctors. Each section closes with key points and reflection prompts, and the course ends with a written reflective account you can keep with your certificate and discuss with a peer, supervisor or mentor.

Who this course is for

  • General practitioners and rural generalists
  • Specialists and consultants in public and private practice
  • Doctors in training, including interns, residents and registrars
  • International medical graduates adapting to Australian ethical and legal expectations
  • Supervisors and medical educators who discuss ethics with trainees
  • Doctors who have faced a difficult ethical situation and want structured reflection
  • Practice principals and medical directors who set policies on gifts, certificates, conflicts and conscientious objection within their practice

What you’ll learn

  • Reason clearly under pressure

    Use a structured ethical method and a publicity test to reach decisions you can explain to a patient, a colleague and the Board.

  • Balance conscience and access

    Exercise conscientious objection in line with the code and the specific laws in your jurisdiction.

  • Handle confidentiality dilemmas

    Distinguish required from permitted disclosures and act proportionately, with advice and documentation.

  • Act with integrity

    Manage gifts, conflicts and dual roles, disclose errors and raise concerns about colleagues when needed.

Learning objectives

  • Explain how Good medical practice relies on ethical judgement and describe the main ethical frameworks doctors use.
  • Apply a structured method, including a publicity test, to ethical problems in clinical practice.
  • Exercise conscientious objection consistently with the code and with jurisdiction-specific legislation.
  • Recognise and manage the influence of personal views, bias and public comment on patient care and trust.
  • Reason through confidentiality dilemmas, including driving, risk to others and genetic information.
  • Manage self-treatment, care of people close to you, gifts, industry relationships and financial interests ethically.
  • Apply ethical principles to end-of-life decisions, voluntary assisted dying and fair use of resources.
  • Act with ethical courage in disclosing errors, raising concerns about colleagues and looking after your own health.

Scenarios covered

Practice situations you reason through, step by step, in the course.

  • The backdated certificate

    Holding the line on honesty while responding with compassion to a patient under financial stress.

  • Conscience and access

    What Victorian and NSW law require of a doctor who objects to abortion, and what the code expects everywhere.

  • The truck driver with hypoglycaemia

    When a serious risk to the public justifies disclosure to the licensing authority, and how to do it well.

  • Prescribing for family

    Why self-prescribing and treating a grieving brother bypass the safeguards the code relies on.

  • The clinic's own products

    Disclosing financial interests to each patient and resisting business pressure under Ahpra's 2026 guidance.

  • Silence after an error

    A registrar told by her consultant not to mention a drug allergy error, and the courage to disclose.

Course contents

6 sections, 24 lessons, then the final assessment.

  1. Section 1: Ethics at the Heart of Good Medical Practice4 lessons
    • 1.1 Why Ethics Underpins the Code
    • 1.2 Ethical Frameworks Doctors Draw On
    • 1.3 A Practical Method for Ethical Decisions
    • 1.4 Moral Distress and Professional Integrity
  2. Section 2: Conscience, Personal Views and Public Trust4 lessons
    • 2.1 Conscientious Objection Under Good Medical Practice
    • 2.2 Legislated Duties and Time-Sensitive Care
    • 2.3 Personal Views, Bias and the Care You Provide
    • 2.4 Public Comment and Trust in the Profession
  3. Section 3: Confidentiality and Its Ethical Limits4 lessons
    • 3.1 Why Confidentiality Matters
    • 3.2 When Disclosure Is Required or Permitted
    • 3.3 Hard Cases: Driving, Risk to Others and Genetic Information
    • 3.4 Families, Carers and Adolescents
  4. Section 4: Relationships, Self-Treatment and Conflicts of Interest4 lessons
    • 4.1 Caring for Yourself, Family and Friends
    • 4.2 Gifts From Patients and Industry
    • 4.3 Financial Interests, Referrals and Business Models
    • 4.4 Honesty in Certificates, Reports and Dual Roles
  5. Section 5: End of Life and Hard Clinical Decisions4 lessons
    • 5.1 Non-Beneficial Treatment and the Limits of Medicine
    • 5.2 Advance Care Planning and Shared Decisions
    • 5.3 Voluntary Assisted Dying
    • 5.4 Fair Use of Resources
  6. Section 6: Ethical Courage and Sustaining Integrity4 lessons
    • 6.1 Honesty When Things Go Wrong
    • 6.2 Concerns About Colleagues
    • 6.3 Hierarchy, Supervision and Respectful Culture
    • 6.4 Your Health as an Ethical Obligation
  7. Final assessment and written reflection15 questions

Assessment and certificate

  1. Work through the course

    Study each section at your own pace, including the case illustrations and apply-it questions.

  2. Pass the assessment

    15 scenario-based questions. You need 12 correct (80%) to pass.

  3. Write your reflection

    A short written reflection on how the learning applies to your own practice.

  4. Download your certificate

    Shows your name, the course, the date and 2 CPD hours. Anyone can check it on our verification page.

What you keep for your CPD records

  • A certificate of completion recording approximately 2 CPD hours of learning
  • Your written reflective account on a real ethical dilemma from your practice
  • A one-page ethical decision checklist for clinical use
  • A quick-reference guide to confidentiality, conflicts and end-of-life checkpoints that you can share with colleagues or use in teaching sessions

How certificates and CPD records workVerify a certificate

Primary sources

The course is built on these official documents. Check them for the current version.

Questions about this course

Is this course recognised by Ahpra or the Medical Board?

No. This course is not accredited, not approved and not endorsed by Ahpra, the Medical Board of Australia or any college. It is independent education aligned with Good medical practice. Record the actual time you spend and decide, with your CPD home's requirements in mind, whether it fits your professional development plan. If you have a condition or undertaking, check with Ahpra or the Board, and your lawyer or defence organisation, before relying on any course.

How is this different from the professionalism course for doctors?

This course is about ethical reasoning and dilemmas: conscience, confidentiality, conflicts, end-of-life decisions and ethical courage. The professionalism course covers conduct, standards, CPD, scope, records and accountability. They are designed to be taken together or separately without overlap.

Can a doctor in Australia refuse to provide a treatment on moral grounds?

Yes, Good medical practice recognises conscientious objection, but you must inform the patient, not impede access to lawful treatment, and provide emergency care. Some laws, such as abortion and voluntary assisted dying legislation, add specific duties that vary by jurisdiction.

When can I break confidentiality without consent?

When the law requires it, or when it permits disclosure, for example to lessen or prevent a serious threat to life, health or safety where consent cannot reasonably be obtained. The course gives a step-by-step test and worked examples.

Can I treat my own family?

Good medical practice advises avoiding care for people with whom you have a close personal relationship except in emergencies or where no other care is available, and not self-prescribing. State medicines laws add restrictions, particularly for controlled medicines.

Does the course cover voluntary assisted dying?

Yes, from an ethical perspective: the status of the law across jurisdictions in 2026, protection for objecting practitioners and their specific duties, and Commonwealth telehealth restrictions.

Is the course suitable for doctors in training?

Yes. Interns, residents and registrars often face ethical pressure from hierarchy, workload and supervision. The course includes scenarios about challenging an inappropriate instruction, disclosing an error when a senior colleague suggests silence, and looking after your own health, alongside the dilemmas that senior doctors meet.

How long is the course?

About 2 hours, including reading, case illustrations, reflection, a written reflective account and a 15-question scenario-based assessment with an 80% pass mark.