Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Foreword
- Contents
- List of tables
- Preface
- Preface to the 1997 edition
- Acknowledgments
- About the authors
- Table of cases
- Table of statutes
- 1 Ethical principles for the medical profession
- 2 Ethical and legal responsibilities of medical students
- 3 Communication skills
- 4 Consent and informed decision making
- 5 Confidentiality, privacy and disclosure
- 6 Medical records, reports and certificates
- 7 Negligence, professional liability and adverse events
- 8 The regulation of the medical profession
- 9 Health care complaints systems
- 10 The doctor and sexual boundaries
- 11 Personal health of the doctor: illness and impairment
- 12 Maintenance of professional competence
- 13 Ethics and the allocation of health-care resources
- 14 The Australian health-care system
- 15 The doctor and interprofessional relationships
- 16 Entering and leaving practice and practice management
- 17 Clinical research
- 18 Prescribing and administering drugs
- 19 Diagnosing and certifying death and the role of the coroner
- 20 Births, reproductive technology, family law and child protection
- 21 Termination of pregnancy and related issues
- 22 Withholding or withdrawing treatment in the seriously or terminally ill
- 23 The law and the mentally ill
- 24 The law and courts of law in Australia
- 25 Medico-legal examinations and reports, court procedures and expert evidence
- 26 Other legislation relevant to medical practice
- APPENDIX 1 AMA CODE OF ETHICS – 2004
- Index
- References
2 - Ethical and legal responsibilities of medical students
- Frontmatter
- Foreword
- Contents
- List of tables
- Preface
- Preface to the 1997 edition
- Acknowledgments
- About the authors
- Table of cases
- Table of statutes
- 1 Ethical principles for the medical profession
- 2 Ethical and legal responsibilities of medical students
- 3 Communication skills
- 4 Consent and informed decision making
- 5 Confidentiality, privacy and disclosure
- 6 Medical records, reports and certificates
- 7 Negligence, professional liability and adverse events
- 8 The regulation of the medical profession
- 9 Health care complaints systems
- 10 The doctor and sexual boundaries
- 11 Personal health of the doctor: illness and impairment
- 12 Maintenance of professional competence
- 13 Ethics and the allocation of health-care resources
- 14 The Australian health-care system
- 15 The doctor and interprofessional relationships
- 16 Entering and leaving practice and practice management
- 17 Clinical research
- 18 Prescribing and administering drugs
- 19 Diagnosing and certifying death and the role of the coroner
- 20 Births, reproductive technology, family law and child protection
- 21 Termination of pregnancy and related issues
- 22 Withholding or withdrawing treatment in the seriously or terminally ill
- 23 The law and the mentally ill
- 24 The law and courts of law in Australia
- 25 Medico-legal examinations and reports, court procedures and expert evidence
- 26 Other legislation relevant to medical practice
- APPENDIX 1 AMA CODE OF ETHICS – 2004
- Index
- References
Summary
There are legal and ethical considerations even for students planning to enrol in medical school. After enrolment, from the point of first contact with patients in year 1 in many medical courses, many of the ethical and legal responsibilities of doctors also apply to medical students. Most of this book is thus of relevance to medical students, relevance that increases progressively as clinical training and patient contact increase. The curricula of all Australian medical schools provide information about these ethical and legal responsibilities and the schools aim to develop appropriate attitudes in students. Some Australian medical schools have adopted the practice of medical students taking an oath of ethical commitment at the time of graduating. There is new evidence that behavioural attitudes at medical school can strongly predict subsequent professional conduct that has been the subject of disciplinary actions by medical boards against practising doctors. This evidence adds emphasis to the need for early introduction of education in regard to expected professional standards. Stressful ethical issues peculiar to the life of medical students are also discussed in this chapter, together with a new code of ethics developed by the Australian Medical Students Association (AMSA) and issues around medical student health. Career choices in medicine are discussed in Chapter 16.
CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE ENROLMENT
Australian medical courses leading to the degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB BS), or its equivalent, are designed to prepare graduates with the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for the provisional registration year (also known as the intern year or postgraduate year 1).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Good Medical PracticeProfessionalism, Ethics and Law, pp. 18 - 32Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010