Ethics for Licensed Health Professionals: Codes, Decisions and Board Expectations
Principles, professional codes, landmark cases and a structured decision model for U.S. practice
3CPD hours
20final questions
80%pass mark
PDFcertificate
What you will learn
Explain how state practice acts, board rules, federal law, professional codes and institutional policy combine to shape ethical obligations in U.S. practice.
Apply the four principles of principlism (Beauchamp and Childress), using specification and balancing, to clinical dilemmas.
Use consequentialist, duty-based, virtue, care and case-based reasoning to test an ethical decision.
Apply a seven-step ethical decision-making model and the four boxes method, and document ethical reasoning defensibly.
Compare the structure and key commitments of the AMA, ANA (2025), ADA, APhA and AAPA codes.
Describe informed consent, decision-specific capacity and surrogate decision-making, and the significance of Quinlan, Cruzan and Tarasoff.
Explain the advisory role of ethics committees and consultants and identify when to request a consultation.
Apply EMTALA, AMA Opinion 11.1.3 on resource allocation and AMA Opinion 1.1.7 on conscientious objection to practice scenarios.
Describe how state boards investigate and resolve ethics breaches, including consent orders, sanctions and NPDB reporting.
Build a targeted, evidenced remediation plan and write a safe reflective account after an ethics concern.
About this course
This course gives U.S. licensed health professionals a practical, rigorous grounding in clinical and professional ethics. It covers principlism and other ethical lenses, a structured decision-making model, the major professional codes (the AMA Code of Medical Ethics, the ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses (2025), the ADA Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct, the APhA Code of Ethics for Pharmacists and the AAPA Guidelines for Ethical Conduct), informed consent and capacity, the landmark cases of Quinlan, Cruzan and Tarasoff, ethics committees and consultation, EMTALA, resource allocation, conscientious objection, and how state boards treat ethics breaches.
It is written for licensees across professions: physicians (MD and DO), nurses (RN, LPN/LVN and APRN), PAs, pharmacists, dentists and dental hygienists, and other licensed professionals such as therapists, counselors and social workers. It suits professionals who want to strengthen their ethical reasoning, prepare for a renewal ethics or jurisprudence requirement, work through difficult cases, or respond constructively to a concern raised about their practice.
In the United States, licensing and discipline are state matters, and ethical failures reach boards as unprofessional conduct or professional misconduct. Several states now require ethics education for renewal, and boards regularly order ethics or professionalism courses in disciplinary cases. Formal board actions go to the National Practitioner Data Bank, where they stay with a licensee for an entire career, so sound ethical judgment, honest documentation and a credible response to concerns matter more than ever.
Course facts
CPD value
Approximately 3 CPD hours (estimated learning time including knowledge checks, reflection and assessment)
Audience
U.S. licensed health professionals: physicians (MD/DO), nurses (RN, LPN/LVN, APRN), PAs, pharmacists, dentists and dental hygienists, and other licensed professionals
Standards covered
AMA Code of Medical Ethics (Principles and Opinions 1.1.7, 2.1.1, 8.6, 9.1.1, 10.7, 10.7.1, 11.1.3); ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses (2025); ADA Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct; APhA Code of Ethics for Pharmacists; AAPA Guidelines for Ethical Conduct for the PA Profession; EMTALA; HIPAA Privacy Rule; 42 CFR 482.13; Patient Self-Determination Act; federal conscience statutes; FSMB Guidelines (2024); NPDB reporting rules
Format
Self-paced, gated lessons with knowledge checks, case studies and reflection
Assessment
20 scenario-based questions, 80% to pass (16 of 20)
Outcome
Certificate of completion and a written reflection for your CPD record
Alignment
Mapped to the ethics and unprofessional conduct expectations of state boards of medicine, nursing, pharmacy and dentistry and to the national professional codes; not board-approved and not accredited for CME/CE
Syllabus
11 sections, 3 CPD hours, 20-question final assessment
1Ethics in U.S. health care: foundations and framework3 lessons
What ethics means for a U.S. licensee
The four layers of obligation in U.S. health care
How an ethical lapse becomes a board matter
2Principles, theories and a structured decision-making model3 lessons
Principlism: the four principles in U.S. practice
Other ethical lenses: consequences, duties, virtues and care
A structured ethical decision-making model
3The professional codes of U.S. health professions3 lessons
The AMA Code of Medical Ethics and the AAPA Guidelines
The ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses (2025 edition)
Dental, pharmacy and other codes compared
4Autonomy, consent, confidentiality and landmark cases3 lessons
Autonomy, informed consent and decision-making capacity
End-of-life decisions: Quinlan, Cruzan and advance directives
Confidentiality and its limits: HIPAA and Tarasoff
5Ethics committees, consultation and moral distress2 lessons
Ethics committees and ethics consultation
When and how to seek ethics help, and how to handle moral distress
6Justice: emergency care, resource allocation and conscientious objection3 lessons
EMTALA and the duty to treat in emergencies
Resource allocation and justice at the bedside
Conscientious objection
7Integrity in everyday practice: honesty, conflicts, boundaries and reporting2 lessons
Honesty, disclosure of errors and conflicts of interest
Boundaries, impairment and the duty to report
8When ethics reaches the board: discipline, education and remediation3 lessons
How boards handle ethics breaches
Ethics education in board orders and renewal
Accountability, rehabilitation and remediation after an ethics concern
9Conclusion and key points1 lesson
Conclusion and key points
10References and further reading1 lesson
References and further reading
11Your reflective account1 lesson
Your reflective account
Who this course is for
U.S. licensed health professionals: physicians (MD/DO), nurses (RN, LPN/LVN, APRN), PAs, pharmacists, dentists and dental hygienists, and other licensed professionals.
Certificate of completion. Not CE or CME credit unless accepted by your board.
Your name, the course title and the CPD hours
Completion date and a unique certificate ID that can be verified
Downloads as a PDF; save it to your portfolio
Fitness To Practice
Certificate of Completion
This certifies that
Your Name
has successfully completed
Ethics for Licensed Health Professionals: Codes, Decisions and Board Expectations
Completed12 Oct 2026
3CPD hours
Certificate IDFTS-7Q4K-2M9X
Certificate of completion — United States
Questions about this course
Which professional codes of ethics does the course compare?
It compares five: the AMA Code of Medical Ethics, the nurses' ANA Code (2025 revision), the ADA Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct, the APhA Code of Ethics for Pharmacists and the AAPA Guidelines for Ethical Conduct for the PA Profession. You see where they agree and where each profession adds its own duties.
Are professional codes of ethics legally binding on licensees?
Not directly. The binding standard is your state practice act and the board rules made under it. Codes from the AMA, ANA, ADA, APhA and AAPA are ethical guidance that boards and courts often refer to. The course explains how these sources combine, so you know which obligations carry disciplinary consequences.
Does this ethics course meet the Texas physician ethics CE requirement?
No. Texas, for example, requires physicians to include a minimum of 2 formal hours of medical ethics or professional responsibility in each renewal cycle's CME. Because our course is independent and carries no CE/CME credit, do not use it for a state renewal mandate like that. It is designed for self-directed learning and voluntary remediation.
What decision-making tools does the ethics course teach?
You apply the four principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence and justice using specification and balancing, check your conclusion against outcome-focused, duty, virtue, care-ethics and casuistic reasoning, and work through a seven-step model and the four boxes method. The course also shows how to document ethical reasoning defensibly.
How much does the healthcare ethics course cost and what is included?
Budget about 3 hours and $89. Case-based checks build up to the final exam of 20 questions (80% to pass), and you finish with a completion certificate and a reflective account for your portfolio.
Honesty where it is tested: records and late entries, license and DEA attestations, billing under federal fraud and abuse law, and conflicts of interest.
Informed consent from Canterbury v. Spence to the bedside: five elements, capacity, surrogates, minors, interpreters, intimate exams and documentation.
What happens after a state board letter arrives: investigation, your written response, settlement conferences, consent orders, hearings and NPDB reporting.