Ethics and professional conduct
Planning, conducting and recording sensitive examinations safely, with the right people in the room, in Aotearoa New Zealand
Doctors, nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, medical radiation technologists, pharmacists, dental practitioners, paramedics, osteopaths, chiropractors and other HPCA Act practitioners, plus staff who act as chaperones and managers who write chaperone policies.
Structured learning and a written reflection to show insight after a complaint, an investigation or a responsible authority inquiry.
Focused learning on a core standard of practice, with a certificate and reflection for your portfolio.
This course is about the practical arrangements around intimate and sensitive examinations: deciding what counts as sensitive, offering and providing a chaperone, choosing who should act as one, positioning and communicating during the examination, speaking up as a chaperone, recording what happened, and managing culture, language, age, disability and trauma. It also covers video consultations, intimate images, sedated patients, chaperone requirements imposed by responsible authorities and the Tribunal, and how to respond and remediate when an examination leads to a concern.
It is written for doctors, nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, medical radiation technologists, pharmacists, dental practitioners, paramedics, osteopaths, chiropractors and other practitioners registered under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, as well as health care assistants and other staff who act as chaperones, and practice managers who write chaperone policies.
New Zealand has no single chaperone law. The expectation is built from the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights, the Medical Council's 2022 statement on when another person is present, the Physiotherapy Board's additional-person standard, the codes of other responsible authorities, and workplace policies. HDC opinions show that failures are usually avoidable system failures. This course turns those sources into clear habits, with New Zealand cases and a reflective account for your recertification record.
11 sections · 26 lessons · 3 hours (estimated) · 20-question final assessment
Final assessment
20scenario-based questions
Certificate of completion
A certificate of completion for your learning portfolio.
The course includes a structured reflective account template: guided prompts to record what you learned, how you will apply it and how the change will show in your practice. It gives you written evidence of insight after a concern, and a ready record for your CPD portfolio.
Write it in your own words and leave out anything that could identify a patient, a colleague or a case. If you have an open complaint or case, talk to your adviser before reflecting on it in writing.
There is no chaperone statute. The expectation is pieced together from the Code of Rights (including clause 3 on reasonable actions), the Medical Council's 2022 statement on having another person present during consultations, Physiotherapy Board guidance and the boundary and consent standards of other authorities. The course combines these and uses HDC opinions about chaperone failures to show them in action.
Yes. One section is written for the chaperone: where to stand, what to watch for, how to pause an examination that is going wrong and how to report a concern afterwards. It also separates a chaperone from a support person, interpreter, observer or student, and suits health care assistants and practice managers who write chaperone policies.
It shows how to adapt arrangements for culture, religion, gender, age, disability, language and a history of trauma, including asking who the person would like present, offering a different practitioner where possible and explaining each step before touching. It also covers small, rural, mobile and after-hours settings where a chaperone is hard to arrange.
It explains how a chaperone condition is imposed and run day to day, how to answer an allegation and how to plan remediation backed by evidence. The authority or Tribunal that set the requirement also decides what satisfies it, so ask that body, your supervisor or your lawyer before you rely on this course. Nobody can promise the result.
About 3 hours (estimated), studied online whenever suits you. Short checks punctuate each module, a 20-question exam closes the course (pass at 16), and you finish with a certificate plus a reflective account about how you run intimate examinations. NZ$139.
Every legal and regulatory point comes from primary sources: the HPCA Act 2003, the responsible authorities' standards and the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights. Anything we cannot confirm is left out.
Lessons, scenarios and assessment questions are written by us for each edition separately, then checked for accuracy, teaching quality and fair assessment before publication.
When a code, standard or law changes, the affected courses are reviewed and updated. Reported errors in legal or regulatory facts are corrected first.
Consent under the Code of Rights clause by clause: interpreters, written consent, refusal, competence, EPOAs and welfare guardians, young people and whānau.
Sexual and non-sexual boundaries, gifts, dual relationships in small communities and social media, with the zone of helpfulness and culturally safe practice.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Pae Ora, Ngā Paerewa and your authority's cultural competence standards, turned into practical, fairer everyday care.
