Ethics and professionalism CPD for health practitioners in Australia [email protected]
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Online course · Australia

Medical Ethics: Principles and Dilemmas in Clinical Practice

Autonomy, Beneficence, Justice and Hard Cases in Australian Healthcare

  • About 2 hours
  • 15 scenario questions
  • Reflective account
  • Certificate of completion
  • Online, self-paced

About this course

The four principles of biomedical ethics are easy to recite and hard to apply when they collide at the bedside. This course takes practitioners from the principles to the hard cases, consent, refusal, end-of-life decisions and scarce resources, within Australian law.

The course starts with why principles matter at the bedside, other ethical lenses, the relationship between ethics, law and the codes, and what to do when principles collide. Autonomy is covered through consent and material risk, capacity and refusal, children and young people, and advance care planning.

Beneficence and non-maleficence lessons cover best interests and proportionate treatment, requests for 'everything', truth-telling and uncertainty, and families asking to withhold information. Justice lessons cover fairness in everyday clinical work, equity and bias, scarce resources, fees and commercial pressure.

Later sections take on hard cases at the beginning and end of life (voluntary assisted dying, withdrawing and withholding treatment, conscientious objection and reproductive decisions) and finish with team deliberation, clinical ethics support, moral distress and recording ethical reasoning.

What you will learn

  • Use the four principles, and other lenses such as care and virtue, without treating them as a formula
  • See where ethics, statute, case law and your code each draw the line
  • Hold consent conversations that cover the risks this particular patient would want to know
  • Decide whether a patient has capacity and respect a refusal you disagree with
  • Work out who decides for a child, or for an adult who cannot decide, and how advance directives apply
  • Respond to a request for treatment that will not help, and be honest about uncertainty
  • Bring fairness into everyday decisions about time, beds and access
  • Think through VAD, withdrawal of treatment, reproductive questions and conscientious objection

Who this course is for

  • Doctors, nurses and midwives
  • Allied health practitioners who face clinical ethical decisions
  • Practitioners in hospitals, palliative care and aged care
  • Educators teaching clinical ethics
  • Members of clinical ethics committees and services

How the course works

  1. After checkout the course is added to My Courses in your account, so you can start straight away on any device with a modern browser.

  2. Move through 6 sections (24 lessons in total) in your own time; lessons open in sequence and the player remembers where you stopped on that device.

  3. Each section ends with key points and prompts for reflection. Your notes can be downloaded as a Word course pack or printed for your portfolio.

  4. Sit the 15-question assessment at the end. Score 80% or more (12 of 15) to pass; answer options are reshuffled if you retake.

  5. Complete the reflective account and feedback to finish. Your certificate of completion shows the estimated learning time (about 2 hours), and you record the time you actually spend in your CPD log.

Course content

7 sections · About 2 hours · 15-question final assessment

1Foundations of Clinical Ethics4 lessons
  • Why Principles Matter at the Bedside
  • Other Ethical Lenses
  • Ethics, Law and the Codes of Conduct
  • When Principles Collide
2Autonomy in Practice: Consent, Capacity and Refusal4 lessons
  • Informed Consent and Material Risk
  • Capacity and the Right to Refuse
  • Children and Young People
  • Advance Care Planning and Substitute Decisions
3Beneficence and Non-Maleficence: Benefit, Harm and Honesty4 lessons
  • Best Interests and Proportionate Treatment
  • Non-Beneficial Treatment and Requests for Everything
  • Truth-Telling and Uncertainty
  • Family Requests to Withhold Information
4Justice: Fairness, Equity and Scarce Resources4 lessons
  • Justice in Everyday Clinical Work
  • Equity, Bias and Groups Facing Disadvantage
  • Allocating Scarce Resources
  • Fees, Access and Commercial Pressures
5Hard Cases at the Beginning and End of Life4 lessons
  • Voluntary Assisted Dying
  • Withdrawing and Withholding Life-Sustaining Treatment
  • Conscientious Objection
  • Reproductive Decisions
6Working Through Hard Cases Together4 lessons
  • Deliberation in Teams
  • Clinical Ethics Support
  • Moral Distress and Practitioner Wellbeing
  • Recording Ethical Reasoning
7Conclusion, Final Assessment and Reflection4 lessons
  • Conclusion and key points
  • References and quick-reference guide
  • Final assessment (15 questions, 80% pass mark)
  • Your reflective account

Assessment and certificate

  • Certificate of completion stating the estimated learning time (about 2 hours); record the time you actually spend.
  • A written reflective account you can keep with your CPD records.

Questions about this course

Is this course only for doctors?

No. Despite the title, it is written for any practitioner who faces clinical ethical decisions, including nurses, midwives and allied health practitioners.

How does Australian law treat a family's request to withhold a diagnosis?

The course explains the ethical and legal position, which generally favours the patient's right to know while allowing sensitive, staged disclosure where the patient wishes.

How is this different from the Ethics for Health Practitioners course?

This course focuses on clinical ethics and hard cases. The Ethics for Health Practitioners course focuses on applying the codes of conduct to everyday professional decisions.

What evidence do I get when I finish?

You receive a certificate of completion stating the estimated learning time, and you can download a course pack holding your learning record, a revision sheet and your own reflections. Your CPD log should show the time you actually spend.

Does completing the course satisfy a condition or undertaking?

Not automatically. Where a Board has set education as a condition or undertaking, the course usually has to be nominated and accepted first, so check with Ahpra or the Board, and your legal adviser or defence organisation, before you enrol.

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