Professional Ethics and Management Flashcards
7 cards from real NBDE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Professional Ethics and Management flashcards as text
A dentist learns that a patient's employer is requesting dental records without patient authorization. The dentist should:
Answer: Refuse to release without written patient authorization or a valid legal order
HIPAA prohibits disclosure of protected health information to an employer without the patient's explicit written authorization or a court order.
In a dental office, the primary responsibility for ensuring OSHA compliance rests with:
Answer: The practice owner or employer
OSHA places the legal responsibility for workplace safety compliance on the employer, which in a dental practice is typically the dentist-owner.
A patient asks whether a proposed amalgam restoration is safe. An ethical dentist should:
Answer: Provide balanced, evidence-based information and respect the patient's choice
Veracity and patient autonomy require that dentists provide accurate, evidence-based information about treatment options so patients can make informed decisions.
Which scheduling method is most effective at reducing patient wait times and maximizing production in a dental practice?
Answer: Modified wave scheduling with staggered arrival times
Modified wave scheduling staggers patient arrivals within each hour, reducing bottlenecks while maintaining high production and minimizing wait times.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a dental practice must:
Answer: Make reasonable modifications to policies and physical access for patients with disabilities
The ADA requires places of public accommodation, including dental offices, to make reasonable modifications to ensure equal access for individuals with disabilities.
A dentist who charges different fees to patients based solely on their race or ethnicity violates which ethical principle?
Answer: Justice
Justice requires the fair and equitable treatment of all patients; discriminatory pricing based on race violates this core ethical principle and civil rights law.
A dental practice's overhead percentage is calculated as:
Answer: Total expenses divided by total collections, multiplied by 100
Overhead percentage = (total operating expenses ÷ total collections) × 100, and a typical healthy dental practice targets 55–65%.