Coaches’ Corner Recap: Ethics and Crisis Questions

In this week’s live broadcast of Coaches’ Corner, which aired Wednesday June 6^th, Melissa and Jennifer discuss how to answer ethics and crisis questions.

Ethics and crisis questions are application based. They do not test your knowledge of your licensure’s code of ethics but, rather, your ability to apply it to situations. On the exam, there will be many answers that are technically correct, but one answer will be the most correct for that situation.

When it comes to both crisis and ethics questions, priority is key in choosing the right answer. The order of your priority as a helping professional is as follows:

1. Patient
2. Public
3. Profession
4. Professional

Your first priority is protecting your patient. In an ethics scenario, a conservative answer is typically best. You should also know the federal mandates for protecting your patient and know when you absolutely must break confidentiality versus when it’s not required but in the best interest of your patient.

In ethics questions, the answer is based solely on the information that’s provided in the case. Therefore, the correct answer might sometimes be one that would allow you to get more information.

Crisis questions, on the other hand, require a bit more decisive, immediate, and concrete action. You need to be directive in a crisis scenario as opposed to weighing options in the more ambiguous ethics situation.

To choose the correct answer in crisis questions, remember that the crisis needs to be dealt with first before you move forward. You must prioritize the immediate safety of your patient.

To hear more elaborate strategies for answering crisis and ethics questions, see the entire broadcast below.

Typically, this broadcast will air bi-weekly. But, in honor of the one year anniversary of Coaches’ Corner, we will air again next week on Wednesday June 13^th at noon pacific on our AATBS Exam Prep Facebook page.