CMA Professional Ethics & Scope of Practice 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A Certified Midwife Assistant's (CMA) scope of practice is best defined as:
- Independently delivering babies without supervision
- Assisting a licensed midwife or provider within defined competencies and under supervision (Correct answer)
- Providing all prenatal and postnatal care autonomously
- Performing clinical duties based on personal experience
Correct answer: Assisting a licensed midwife or provider within defined competencies and under supervision
A CMA works within a defined scope under the supervision or direction of a licensed midwife or healthcare provider, supporting rather than independently practicing.
Question 2: Informed consent for a birth procedure requires that the patient receive information about:
- The procedure's benefits only
- Benefits, risks, alternatives, and the right to refuse (Correct answer)
- Only what the provider deems necessary
- Information after the procedure is complete
Correct answer: Benefits, risks, alternatives, and the right to refuse
Valid informed consent requires disclosure of the procedure's benefits, risks, alternatives, and the patient's right to refuse without penalty.
Question 3: Confidentiality of patient health information is governed in the US primarily by:
- The AMA Code of Ethics
- HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) (Correct answer)
- State midwifery licensing boards only
- The Joint Commission standards
Correct answer: HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
HIPAA establishes federal standards for protecting the privacy and security of individually identifiable health information in the United States.
Question 4: If a midwifery assistant witnesses a potential error by the supervising midwife, the appropriate action is to:
- Stay silent to avoid conflict
- Immediately confront the midwife in front of the patient
- Use the chain of command and raise concerns through appropriate channels (Correct answer)
- Document nothing and wait to see the outcome
Correct answer: Use the chain of command and raise concerns through appropriate channels
Patient safety requires using institutional chain of command to escalate safety concerns professionally and promptly without undermining care delivery.
Question 5: Which principle of biomedical ethics requires that a provider act in the best interest of the patient?
- Autonomy
- Beneficence (Correct answer)
- Nonmaleficence
- Justice
Correct answer: Beneficence
Beneficence means actively doing good and promoting the patient's welfare, which is a core obligation of all healthcare providers.
Question 6: A laboring patient who has capacity declines a recommended intervention. The CMA should:
- Perform the intervention anyway for the patient's safety
- Document the refusal and respect the patient's decision (Correct answer)
- Call the patient's family to override the decision
- Discontinue care immediately
Correct answer: Document the refusal and respect the patient's decision
Respect for patient autonomy requires honoring the informed refusal of a competent adult; the refusal must be documented and the team informed.
CMA Professional Ethics & Scope of Practice 1
A Certified Midwife Assistant's (CMA) scope of practice is best defined as: