The Practice Guide
The responsibility for maintaining medical professionalism lies with physicians themselves. Acting in
concert with his or her peers, each physician contributes to defining the expectations or standards of the
profession as a whole. Individually, each physician
upholds those standards in his or her own actions.
Fulfillment of this duty is essential to self-regulation.
2. Reporting
Physicians must be aware of their reporting obligations and be truthful and forthright in their reports,
whether in the context of patient charting, recording
of research results, or providing expert information
to third parties (i.e., the court, WSIB, insurance companies).
Physicians have a legal and professional duty to keep
information about their patients private and confidential. However, under certain circumstances, physicians are required by law, or expected by the College,
to report particular events or patient conditions to
the appropriate government or regulatory agency.
These are ‘mandatory reports’, and are an acceptable
breach of patient privacy and confidentiality for a
greater societal good.
3. Educating
Physicians should teach and learn. The profession,
and its service to patients, can only be impr