Components of Ethics for Physical Therapy Professionals

Goals & Objectives:

Course Overview

Ethical behavior is a fundamental component of all healthcare professions, regardless of where or how they practice. The purpose of this course is to provide healthcare professionals a broad overview on the study of ethical behavior and action as it is applied to practice, education, and research. The course will define terms used in discussing ethics, describe general principles and values of ethics and standards of conduct, and explain a decision-making process for analyzing ethical issues and potential disciplinary actions or sanctions that might occur if unethical behavior is determined by professional and/or credentialing organizations. Case studies are included throughout to stimulate reflection and direct application to practice examples. This course is the 3-hour extended version of “Components of Ethics for Healthcare Professionals” that includes specific policies from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) outlining standards for ethics and professionalism for physical therapy professionals.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completing this course, the learner should be able to:

• Define ethics terms, theories, principles, and sources of ethical issues that are familiar across healthcare professions and settings. 
• Recognize general ethical principles and standards of conduct and basic procedures used to enforce them. 
• Recall a general decision-making process to resolve ethical questions/dilemmas that can occur across healthcare professions and settings. 
• Identify the standards of ethics and professionalism detailed by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA)