What other responsibilities do doctors, physician associates, and anaesthesia associates have?

Standards of behaviour

It’s essential that patients can trust their doctors, physician associates, and anaesthesia associates. To justify your trust in them and their profession, doctors, physician associates, and anaesthesia associates need to act with honesty and integrity. For example by:

• being honest about their experience, qualifications, and current role
• being honest in financial and commercial dealings
• putting the interests of participants first when designing, organising, or carrying out research

Because doctors, physician associates, and anaesthesia associates hold a trusted position in society, it’s important that they think about the power they hold and don’t abuse that trust. For example, they must not:

• take advantage of your lack of medical knowledge when communicating with you
• act in a sexual way or use their professional position to pursue a sexual or improper emotional relationship with you or someone close to you
• talk about their personal beliefs (including political, religious, and moral beliefs) in ways that take advantage of your vulnerability or could reasonably cause you distress
• abuse, discriminate against, or bully you or another patient.

Maintaining skills and knowledge

It’s important that doctors, physician associates and anaesthesia associates follow guidance and standards, and work within their competence. And we expect them to keep their knowledge and skills up to date throughout their career.

Training the next generation of doctors, physician associates and anaesthesia associates is a key part of any healthcare system and they are expected to share knowledge and skills with colleagues. This could be formally or informally.

Students training to become doctors, physician associates or anaesthesia associates cannot learn all they need to know from books and will, at times, be part of the team. If for any reason you would prefer not to help in student training, you have the right to decline.

Conflicts of interest

It’s important that you can trust that your doctor, physician associate, or anaesthesia associate is not putting their interests before yours. This may be particularly important when a doctor prescribes treatment or when a physician associate or anaesthesia associate proposes or provides treatment; or if your doctor, physician associate or anaesthesia associate refers you to another speciality.  

There are times when a doctor, physician associate, or anaesthesia associate will have interests that could affect the way they provide treatments or refer patients, or the way they communicate to you.  When this happens they need to be open and honest about their interest. And, if faced with a conflict of interest, they may need to exclude themselves from making a decision.

Communication

Any information doctors, physician associates or anaesthesia associates communicate – including using social media and advertising or promoting services or products – needs to be accurate, and not false or misleading. This means they are expected to:

• take reasonable steps to check the information is accurate
• not deliberately leave out relevant information or understate risks of harm
• not present opinion as established fact.

If you want to know the registered name and/or GMC reference number of a doctor, physician associate or anaesthesia associate, you can ask them for this information.

In an emergency

In an emergency, like a car accident, doctors, physician associates, and anaesthesia associates are often in a good position to help. But what help they offer will depend on their skills and any other options that are available. For example, if they aren’t competent in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), they may instead call an ambulance.