• understand 'ethics' as a formal discipline.
• recognize differences between 'ethics' and 'morality' and other areas such as law, religion, sociology, and personal opinion.
• understand the main ethical theories, recognize them, and understand how you use them when making an ethical argument.
• understand the different facets of making moral decisions.
• develop the skills necessary to recognize all of the ethical issues in a situation.
• develop the skills necessary to manage ethical problems, including using various tools to resolve ethical problems.
• understand the scope of professional responsibilities and the responsibilities of individual professionals.
• understand the importance of trust in professional relations.
• utilize professional tenets relating to veterinary medicine and other professions.
• understand how character traits and behaviors contribute to fiduciary relationships.
• understand how ethics relates to the veterinary/client relationship.
• understand informed consent - standards of comprehension, standards of disclosure, and client competence.
• understand when it is acceptable to break client confidentiality and how it should be done.
• recognize why are medical records so important.
• understand who has ownership of information.
• understand how to include non-medical facts within medical records.
• discuss the concept of professional responsibility with regards to:
  • provision of care
  • pro-bono work - is a lower level of care acceptable?
  • providing at least minimal care in emergency situations - to client's animals, to any animal
  • cosmetic procedures, behavioral surgeries (i.e., declawing, debarking)
  • pain management ethics - is pain management optional in your clinic? What to do when clients refuse at-home pain management?
  • quality of life - who is best at determining the interests of the patient - the owner or the veterinarian?
  • end-of-life issues - who should decide if euthanasia is appropriate? Is it acceptable to let ill patients die a natural death? If so, how should this be managed?
• perform procedures competently and within the scope of practice.
• understand when is it acceptable to perform a procedure that you are not sure you are competent to perform.
• understand when it is appropriate to refer to specialists, and how to handle referred clients/patients.
• understand how second opinions should be handled.
• understand how to react to evidence of professional incompetence of a colleague.
• understand how and what is appropriate to delegate to non-veterinary staff.
• understand how to address and manage medical errors.
• understand the ethics around prescribing and dispensing.
• avoid conflicts of interest in business relationships (i.e., with Pet Stores, Suppliers).
• understand their responsibilities in Advertising/Social Media.

Module 10: Course Evaluation

1. VIN CE Courses:
   1. VIN CE courses are open to VIN members.
   2. Veterinary support staff must be VSPN members in order to enroll in a VIN CE course open to VSPN member enrollment.
2. VSPN CE Courses:
   1. VSPN CE courses are open to veterinary support staff and veterinarians.
   2. Only VIN and VSPN members can enroll in a VSPN CE course.
   3. Veterinarians will only receive credit for those VSPN CE courses that specify in the Accreditation statement that the course is accredited for veterinarians.
3. Please check the course Level and Prerequisites, Accreditation, and Tuition before enrolling.
4. Each enrollee must be able to receive emails from @vspn.org and @vin.com addresses.
   1. Email is our major form of communication with participants; personal emails are highly recommended rather than clinic/hospital email addresses.
5. For further assistance call 800-846-0028 ext. 797 or email CEonVIN@vin.com. Please include the course title, your full name, and contact information in your correspondence.