Ethics and professional conduct
Honesty and integrity in communication, records, billing to provincial plans, professional claims and self-reporting, and how to reflect and remediate after a probity concern in Canada
Doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and other regulated health professionals in Canada, including those responding to a complaint, billing audit, investigation or fitness-to-practise concern.
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.
Probity, honesty and integrity in every part of practice, is treated by Canadian colleges as a core element of fitness to practise, and breaches can lead to serious outcomes even where clinical skill is not in doubt. This course explains what probity means in clinical care, documentation, communication, billing and professional claims, and how it is overseen by provincial and territorial colleges under national codes such as the CMA Code of Ethics and Professionalism, the CNA Code of Ethics, the CDA Code of Ethics and pharmacy standards based on NAPRA's model standards.
It covers the core dimensions of honest practice: truthful communication with patients and families, accurate and contemporaneous records with no backdating or after-the-fact alteration, transparency with colleagues, employers and regulators, and avoiding misrepresentation, fraud and deception, including deception by omission. It sets out the Canadian specifics: billing integrity for public plans such as OHIP, MSP, AHCIP and RAMQ, error disclosure supported by provincial apology legislation, honesty in virtual care and online, and mandatory self-reporting duties such as reporting a criminal charge to your college.
The course then explains how probity concerns are reported and investigated, the possible outcomes from a caution or SCERP to revocation, and the wider impact of dishonesty. It ends with reflection, insight and remediation: how to write an honest reflective account, what insight into a probity concern looks like, which remediation activities are relevant and how trust is rebuilt through sustained conduct. It is educational and does not replace advice from your protective association or legal counsel.
6 sections · 37 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.
The course defines probity as unwavering honesty, integrity and ethical conduct, especially where scrutiny is limited. It covers honesty, openness, transparency, integrity and reliability across clinical care, documentation, communication, billing and professional or organizational dealings.
Yes. It explains that claims to plans such as OHIP, MSP, AHCIP and RAMQ must reflect services actually delivered and time genuinely spent, how post-payment audits can lead to college referral and, where fraud is suspected, police referral, and that plans have processes for voluntarily disclosing and repaying claims made in error.
Using Ontario's RHPA as an example, the course explains the duty to report promptly and in writing matters such as being charged with an offence and related bail conditions, being found guilty of an offence, professional negligence or malpractice findings, and misconduct or incompetence findings by another governing body. Other provinces impose similar duties, and failure to self-report is itself serious misconduct. Check your own college's requirements.
Regulators weigh severity, pattern, impact, insight and especially any attempt to conceal or shift blame. The course explains why concealment is treated as an aggravating factor, often more serious than the original error, and why dishonesty can lead to revocation even where clinical competence is not in question.
Yes. The final teaching section covers self-awareness, reflective writing using Gibbs or Rolfe, demonstrating insight, remediation through targeted CPD, mentorship, practice changes and, where appropriate, apology, and rebuilding trust over time. Your college decides what remediation it requires, and you should take advice from your protective association or counsel.
Only your college can confirm that. Where a SCERP or undertaking specifies a course, it may name a provider or set content requirements.
It is a 2-hour online, self-paced course with gated sections, knowledge checks, a written reflection and a final assessment of 10 questions with an 80% pass mark. It costs CA$95 and includes a certificate of completion.
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.
Honest billing and fees under Canada's public and private funding: conflicts of interest, stewardship, audits and when an error becomes misconduct.
Accurate, timely, objective and secure clinical documentation under Canadian college standards and privacy law, from consent and clinical reasoning to EMR risks, late entries and high-risk situations.
How to rebuild trust with patients, the public and your college after a complaint or incident, through insight, honest disclosure and apology, cultural safety and sustained, evidenced change.
