Georgia Ethics and Jurisprudence

Course Description

This 4-hour course is designed to provide physical therapists and physical therapist assistants licensed in Georgia with a comprehensive understanding of the ethical principles guiding healthcare and the interplay of ethics and jurisprudence/law. The course will cover topics such as how personal biases can be overcome to align with commonly agreed upon ethical principles, distinguishing between ethics and jurisprudence/law and recognizing the overlap of ethics and jurisprudence/law. This course will define key ethical principles guiding healthcare and compare the State of Georgia ethical guidelines with the APTA national guidelines.

The Georgia General Provisions, the Georgia Physical Therapy Practice Act and the Georgia Physical Therapy Board Rules and policies will be reviewed and the participant will be able to recognize the impact of ethical violations by a physical therapist or physical therapist assistant in the state of Georgia. The course will explain the interplay of a patient’s right to informed consent with the principles of ethics and case scenarios related to the topics of professional accountability, ethical behavior and professional boundaries will be included in order to allow the participant to apply their knowledge to real life examples.

Course Objectives

At the end of this course, the participant will be able to:

• Demonstrate how personal biases can be overcome to align with commonly agreed upon ethical principles, despite cultural/religious background.
• Distinguish between ethics and jurisprudence/law
• Recognize the overlap of ethics and jurisprudence/law
• Define 11 key ethical principles guiding healthcare
• Compare the State of Georgia ethical guidelines with the APTA national guidelines
• Recognize the impact of ethical violations by a physical therapist or physical therapist assistant in the state of Georgia
• Explain the interplay of a patient’s right to informed consent with the principles of ethics
• Recall physical therapy laws (O.C.G.A. 43-1 through 43-1-35), rules (Chapter 490) and general provisions (O.C.G.A 43-33) specific to the state of Georgia
• Recall the Georgia State Board of Physical Therapy policies, FAQ and proposed rules
• Navigate the Georgia State Board of Physical Therapy website and the CE Broker continuing education tracking system website.

• Prerequisites

  None

• Educational Level

  Intermediate

• Other

  Satisfactory completion of this course will require the participant to complete a 25 question post-test with a minimum passing score of 70%.