Ethics and professional conduct
Core principles, college standards and ethical decision-making for every regulated profession, including consent, candour, MAID and remediation
Physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, optometrists and opticians, chiropractors and other regulated health professionals in every Canadian province and territory, including those responding to a college complaint, an ICRC or committee decision, an undertaking or a remediation program.
Structured learning and a written reflection to show insight after a complaint, an investigation or a college inquiry.
Focused learning on a core standard of practice, with a certificate and reflection for your portfolio.
This course gives regulated health professionals across Canada a clear, practical grounding in healthcare ethics. It explains why ethics underpins trust in a self-regulated system and how the regulatory framework works: provincial and territorial colleges that register, set standards and discipline, and national bodies such as the CMA, CNA, CDA and NAPRA that set codes and model standards.
It covers the four core principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice, with cultural safety as part of justice, and the ethical standards colleges expect: honesty and integrity, confidentiality under PHIPA and other privacy law, competence, conflicts of interest and boundaries. It then applies ethical reasoning to informed consent and shared decisions, disclosure of errors, end-of-life care, prescribing and MAID, resource pressure and public-health responsibilities.
The final sections describe common breaches, how concerns are investigated and what outcomes follow, and the reflection, insight and remediation colleges assess most closely. It suits routine CPD and anyone responding to a complaint, investigation or practice concern, and does not replace advice from your protective association or lawyer.
7 sections · 27 lessons · 2 hours (estimated) · 10-question final assessment
Final assessment
10scenario-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.
Any regulated health professional in Canada who wants a clear grounding in healthcare ethics, or who has been asked to complete ethics learning after a concern. If your profession has its own ethics course, such as physicians, nurses, pharmacists or dentists, that one adds profession-specific detail.
Section 1.2 explains that regulation is provincial and territorial, that your college (not a national body) issues your registration and disciplines, that some territorial licensing is done by government departments, and that physicians alone have 13 medical regulatory authorities. National bodies such as the CMA, CNA, CDA and NAPRA set codes and model standards.
It explains that MAID is legal within a federal framework and provincial and college standards, may be assessed and provided only by physicians and nurse practitioners, and that MAID where the sole underlying condition is a mental illness is excluded until 17 March 2027. Because this law has changed several times, it advises checking the current position.
Yes. Section 4.2 covers telling patients promptly about errors or adverse outcomes, offering a sincere apology and clear explanation, and taking steps to prevent recurrence, with apology legislation protecting a sincere apology in most provinces.
Section 5 describes how anyone can raise a concern, the consistent pattern of investigation and screening (for example the ICRC in Ontario), and outcomes from no action through SCERPs, undertakings and conditions to referral to discipline.
Section 6 covers self-awareness, reflective practice using structured models such as Gibbs and Rolfe, demonstrating insight, and remediation through targeted education, supervised practice, mentorship and audit, presented as a cycle that protects both patients and you.
There are knowledge checks in each section and a final assessment of 10 multiple-choice questions with an 80% pass mark, followed by a reflective account and certificate. Colleges decide what learning they accept, so we never claim approval or a fixed credit. Many professionals record the 2 hours as self-directed learning in their college's CPD or quality-assurance program, with the reflective account as evidence of what changed. It is online, self-paced and CA$95.
Every legal and regulatory point comes from primary sources: provincial and territorial health professions statutes, the regulatory colleges' standards and codes, and federal and provincial privacy law. 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.
The four principles in practice: consent and capacity, confidentiality and the duty to warn, truth-telling, fair allocation and conflicts of interest.
Core principles of professional ethics applied to boundaries, confidentiality, candour, conflicts of interest, virtual care and workplace culture, with the IDEA decision-making framework.
Honesty and integrity across records, communication, billing to provincial plans and professional claims, including self-reporting duties and remediation after a probity concern.
