Student professionalism and fitness to practice guidance for physician associate or anaesthesia associate students and course providers

Our main guidance

A group of students sat with laptops

Achieving good medical practice: guidance for PA and AA students

Physician associate (PA) or anaesthesia associate (AA) students must demonstrate a high standard of behaviour at all times, which justifies the trust placed in them as future members of these professions. This guidance outlines the standards expected of PA and AA students – both inside and outside their course or placement – and shows how the principles and values of Good medical practice apply to PA and AA students.
Two students, one wearing scrubs, chat about their work

Professional behaviour and fitness to practise – guidance for course providers and employers

This guidance is aimed at PA and AA course and placement provider organisations who identify, manage and support students whose professionalism or fitness to practise is a cause for concern.

Resources and further information

This content was designed primarily for doctors, medical students, and medical schools, but it may also be valuable for physician associates (PA), anaesthesia associates (AA), as well as PA and AA students and course providers.

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AGMP in action

Achieving good medical practice in action

These interactive scenarios encourage you to think about how our guidance applies to real life.

Three female doctors reviewing notes
Working on the ward
Working on the ward can be fast-paced and requires you to react effectively and appropriately. Here, our medical student grapples with personal health issues, carrying out procedures and reflective practice.
Three students talking
Private life and social media
Social media is often useful, but can present some additional challenges for doctors. These scenarios look at confidentiality, perceptions, and the doctor-patient relationship.
Doctor explaining
Working with others and the public
As a doctor you will work with and treat people from all parts of society, and encounter many ethical issues. These scenarios consider issues around raising concerns, personal beliefs and honesty.
The expert view

The expert view

Watch this video to hear more about professionalism and our guidance from experts at your medical school.


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Guidance in practice

Student scenarios

These fictional case studies will help you see how Achieving good medical practice and Professional behaviour and fitness to practise can be applied to real life scenarios.

Topics include social media use, personal health, serious misconduct, working in isolated environments, and repeated low level concerns

Read the case studies

Thought pieces

Some areas of our guidance have generated discussion among medical schools and their students.

Read our thoughts on these discussions, and contributions from medical school staff considering the guidance in day-to-day situations.

Read the thought pieces

Myths and questions

We have put together a myth buster and FAQs to help students and medical schools understand the guidance.

View the myth busters and questions
Good practice examples

Examples submitted by medical educators

We asked medical schools to tell us what steps they have taken towards implementing the guidance, any difficulties, and how they had communicated it to their students.

View the examples

Professionalism in teaching

How is professional behaviour taught at medical school? And what are the best ways to teach professionalism to medical students? We collaborated with The Point of Care Foundation, who produced 10 recommendations for how this could be done.

View the recommendations

Further reading

The guidance on this page is designed to help PA and AA students achieve the standards expected in Good medical practice, and help PA and AA course providers implement the corresponding requirements set out in the Standards for the delivery of PA and AA pre-qualification education.

Good medical practice
Good medical practice sets out the principles of good practice which all doctors must be familiar with. It is the foundation on which the rest of our guidance is built.
Standards for the delivery of PA and AA pre-qualification education
This document sets out the standards for the delivery of pre-qualification education for physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs). These standards have patient safety, quality of care, and fairness at their heart.