Codes, Guidelines and Policies

The Medical Board of Australia has developed codes and guidelines to guide the profession. These also help to clarify the Board's expectations on a range of issues. The Board has approved codes and guidelines on the following:

Codes and guidelines

Document	PDF	Accessible format	Date of approval	Date of effect
Good medical practice: a code of conduct for doctors in Australia	PDF (174 KB)	Web page	27 May 2020	1 October 2020
Guidelines - Registered health practitioners and students in relation to blood-borne viruses	PDF (80.5KB)	Word version (939 KB,DOCX)	26 February 2020	6 July 2020
Guidelines: Sexual boundaries in the doctor-patient relationship	PDF (78.8KB)	Web page	29 August 2018	12 December 2018
Guidelines: Mandatory notifications about registered health practitioners*	PDF (250 KB)	Web page	27 November 2019	1 March 2020
Guidelines: Mandatory notifications about registered students**	PDF (150 KB)	Web page	27 November 2019	1 March 2020
Guidelines: Telehealth consultations with patients For more information see the news item.	PDF (81 KB)	Web page	24 May 2023	1 September 2023
Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service	PDF (192 KB)	Web page	22 April 2020	14 December 2020
Guidelines for registered medical practitioners who perform cosmetic surgery and procedures For more information see the news item and FAQ	PDF (148 KB)	Web page	22 February 2023	1 July 2023
Guidelines for registered medical practitioners who advertise cosmetic surgery For more information see the news item and FAQ	PDF (140 KB)	Web page	22 February 2023	1 July 2023
Advance copy: Guidelines for advertising higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures	PDF (217 KB)	Web page	26 March 2025	2 September 2025
Guidelines - Short-term training in a medical specialty for international medical graduates who are not qualified for general or specialist registration	PDF (103KB)	Web page	24 September 2014	1 July 2016
Guidelines - Supervised practice for international medical graduates Further information about supervision is available on the Supervision page.	PDF (146KB)	Web page	25 March 2015	4 January 2016
Social media: How to meet your obligations under the National Law		Web page		Regularly updated
Guideline - Informing a National Board about where you practise	PDF (152 KB)	Word version (590 KB,DOCX)		1 August 2018

Position statements

Document	PDF	Accessible format	Date of approval	Date of effect
Joint statement on professional responsibilities for prescribing and dispensing medicines	PDF (354 KB)	Webpage	_	3 June 2024
Facilitating access to care in a COVID-19 environment: Guidance for health practitioners	PDF (208 KB)	Word version (120 KB, DOCX)	24 November 2021	21 December 2021
No place for sexism, sexual harassment or violence in healthcare	PDF (205KB)	Word version (120 KB,DOCX)	28 April 2021	30 June 2021

Frameworks

Document	PDF	Accessible format	Date of approval	Date of effect
Supervised practice framework^† For more information see Supervised practice framework – for medical practitioners page. This framework does not apply to IMGs, interns or vocational trainees	PDF (202KB)	Web page	28 April 2021	1 February 2022

^† The Supervised practice framework was updated in April 2023 to reflect the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia adopting the framework from 1 April 2023 and in November 2024 to reflect the Pharmacy Board of Australia adopting the framework for restrictions relating to supervised practice for health, conduct or performance concerns for pharmacists holding general registration only from 29 November 2024.

Policies

Document	PDF	Accessible format	Date of approval	Date of effect
Common Protocol - Informing notifiers about the reasons for National Board decisions	PDF (91.8KB)	Word version (58.6 KB,DOCX)	30 July 2018	1 August 2018
Policy: Supervised practice requirements for specialist registration	PDF (146 KB)		25 September 2024	21 October 2024
Policy: Orientation requirements for specialist registration	PDF (128 KB)		25 September 2024	21 October 2024
Policy: Cultural safety education requirements for specialist registration	PDF (138 KB)		25 September 2024	21 October 2024

Policy directions

Under Section 11 of the National Law, as in force in each state and territory, the Ministerial Council may issue a National Board with policy directions.

Document	PDF	Accessible format	Date of issue	Date of effect
Policy Direction 2019-01 - Paramountcy of public protection when administering the National Scheme Policy Direction 2019-02 - Requirements to consult with patient safety bodies and health care consumer bodies on every new and revised registration standard, code and guidelines	PDF (2.34MB)		31 October - 1 November 2019	8 January 2020

Registration

Document	PDF	Accessible format	Document date
Medical registration - what does it mean? Who should be registered?	PDF (1018KB)		15 March 2012

FAQ and Fact Sheets

For further information please refer to the FAQ and Fact Sheets page.

Retired versions

Document	PDF	Date of effect
Retired version: Guidelines for technology based patient consultations Information on inter-jurisdictional technology based patient consultations	PDF (74.5 KB) PDF (66.9 KB)	To 31 August 2023
Retired version: Cosmetic surgery advertising obligations under the National Law		To 30 June 2023
Retired version: Guidelines for registered medical practitioners who perform cosmetic medical and surgical procedures	PDF (78.9KB)	To 30 June 2023
Retired version: Guidelines for advertising regulated health services	PDF (155 KB)	To 13 December 2020
Retired version: Good medical practice: a code of conduct for doctors in Australia	PDF (138 KB)	To 30 September 2020
Retired version: Guidelines for mandatory notifications	PDF (149KB)	To 29 February 2020
Retired version: Social media policy	PDF (62KB)	To 10 November 2019
Retired version: Sexual boundaries: guidelines for doctors	PDF (110KB)	To 12 December 2018
Retired version: Guidelines for supervised practice for limited registration	PDF (546KB)	To 3 January 2016
Retired version: Good medical practice: a code of conduct for doctors in Australia	PDF (518KB)	To 16 March 2014
Retired version: Guidelines for advertising of regulated health services	PDF (451KB)	To 16 March 2014
Retired version: Guidelines for mandatory notifications	PDF (412KB)	To 16 March 2014

*The Guidelines: Mandatory notifications about registered health practitioners have been updated on 29 June 2020 to include minor formatting and word changes and changes to the flowcharts on pages 20, 22 and 26 of the guidelines.

**The Guidelines: Mandatory notifications about registered students have been updated on 29 June 2020 to include minor formatting and word changes and sections 39 and 40 of the National Law in Appendix A.

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