Insights from the UK's Good Medical Practice on Regulating Physician Code of Conduct

From the perspective of normative ethics, this study examines the content of the 2024 edition of Good Medical Practice issued by the British Medical Association. This guidance integrates virtue ethics and normative ethics to provide practical behavioral standards for doctors. It emphasizes the protection of patients' rights and interests, the improvement of doctors' professional competence, ongoing improvement and risk management, and the importance of teamwork and communication, offering specific guidance for professional practices. This study suggests that China can draw on the experience of the United Kingdom to formulate its own version of good medical practice. Such a framework could provide hospitals with operational ethical guidelines to promote humanistic care. Furthermore, it advocates for the strengthening of doctors' humanistic literacy, aiming to enhance their overall professionalism. Lastly, the study explores how third-party industry institutions could play a more significant role in managing healthcare professionals, encouraging industry self-regulation to improve the overall management and performance of the medical workforce.