USMLE® Step 2 CK · chapter SOC
Social Sciences, Ethics & Patient Safety: USMLE® Step 2 CK topics
39 topics. Each one opens a review page with its guideline basis and key clinical sections, then links the QuestionBank questions, ChartWalk flowchart, FlashCards and ImageBank plates that share its code.
- Adolescent confidentiality and minor consent
SOC-CONF-0323 questions · Review Book p. 19 · 2024 AAP Policy Statement Confidentiality in the Care of Adolescents; ACOG Committee Opinion 803 (2020, reaffirmed)
- Advance directives and healthcare proxies
SOC-EOL-0122 questions · Review Book p. 22 · 2022 AMA Code of Medical Ethics Advance Care Planning
- Assessing decision-making capacity vs competence
SOC-CAP-0134 questions · Review Book p. 9 · 2019 ACP Ethics Manual; AMA Code of Medical Ethics
- Breaking bad news and difficult conversations
SOC-COMM-0143 questions · Review Book p. 21 · 2026 ASCO Patient-Clinician Communication Guideline Update; AMA Code of Medical Ethics 2.1.3; 45 CFR 92.201 (language access) + 164.510(b) (care-relevant disclosure)
- Civil commitment and involuntary hospitalization criteria
SOC-LAW-031 questions · Review Book p. 43 · 42 CFR 482.13 (current); state civil-commitment law; Addington v. Texas (1979); Parham v. J.R. (1979)
- Classifying patient safety events and near misses
SOC-QI-0145 questions · Review Book p. 46
- Confidentiality — mandatory disclosure exceptions
SOC-CONF-0133 questions · Review Book p. 17 · 2022 AMA Code of Medical Ethics Confidentiality; 2000 HHS HIPAA Privacy Rule
- Conflicts of interest and pharmaceutical marketing
SOC-PROF-036 questions · Review Book p. 34 · 2022 AMA Code of Medical Ethics Gifts to Physicians from Industry
- Death pronouncement and brain death criteria
SOC-EOL-0723 questions · Review Book p. 30 · 2023 AAN/AAP/CNS/SCCM Pediatric and Adult BD/DNC Consensus Guideline + January 2024 correction
- Disclosing medical errors to patients
SOC-QI-0238 questions · Review Book p. 48 · 2022 AMA Code of Medical Ethics Promoting Patient Safety; 2016 AHRQ Communication and Optimal Resolution (CANDOR) Toolkit
- Elements of valid informed consent
SOC-CON-0121 questions · Review Book p. 11 · AMA Code of Medical Ethics, Opinion 2.1.1; ACS surgeon-responsibility statement (2026)
- Exceptions to informed consent requirements
SOC-CON-0212 questions · Review Book p. 12 · 2019 ACP Ethics Manual; AMA Code of Medical Ethics
- Four core ethical principles in clinical dilemmas
SOC-ETH-0111 questions · Review Book p. 8 · 2016 AMA Code of Medical Ethics; 1979 Belmont Report
- Handoff and communication tools for safety
SOC-QI-0622 questions · Review Book p. 54 · 2023 AHRQ Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) 3.0
- Health information technology and telemedicine safety
SOC-QI-1055 questions · Review Book p. 60 · 2022 AMA Code of Medical Ethics Ethical Practice in Telemedicine; 2024 Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology 21st Century Cures Act Information Blocking Rule
- HIPAA privacy rules for exam purposes
SOC-CONF-0212 questions · Review Book p. 18 · 2013 HHS HIPAA Privacy Rule (Omnibus); 2020 Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology 21st Century Cures Act Information Blocking Rule
- Historical research ethics landmarks and violations
SOC-RES-011 questions · Review Book p. 37 · 2024 WMA Declaration of Helsinki; 2017 HHS Revised Common Rule
- Hospice versus palliative care eligibility
SOC-EOL-0434 questions · Review Book p. 27 · 2026 CMS Medicare Hospice Benefit; 2018 NCP Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care
- Impaired colleague — duty to report
SOC-PROF-0118 questions · Review Book p. 33 · AMA Code 9.3.1–2, 9.4.2; FSPHP guidance; FSMB physician wellness (2018)
- IRB oversight, trial phases and equipoise
SOC-RES-029 questions · Review Book p. 38 · 2017 HHS Revised Common Rule; 2024 WMA Declaration of Helsinki
- Malpractice — the four D’s of negligence
SOC-LAW-027 questions · Review Book p. 41
- Mandatory reporting of abuse and conditions
SOC-LAW-0154 questions · Review Book p. 40 · 2021 CDC STI Treatment Guidelines (Sexual Assault)
- Medication safety — high-alert drugs and reconciliation
SOC-QI-0755 questions · Review Book p. 55 · 2024 ISMP High-Alert Medications List
- Organ donation and transplantation ethics
SOC-LAW-0412 questions · Review Book p. 45 · OPTN Policies; 2023 AAN/AAP/CNS/SCCM Pediatric and Adult Brain Death/Death by Neurologic Criteria Determination
- Pain control and the doctrine of double effect
SOC-EOL-0526 questions · Review Book p. 28 · 2023 ASCO Opioids for Cancer Pain; 2024 EAPC Palliative Sedation Framework; AMA Code Opinion 5.6; CDC 2022 scope exclusion
- Patient safety culture and cognitive bias
SOC-QI-0550 questions · Review Book p. 52 · 2015 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Improving Diagnosis in Health Care; AHRQ Patient Safety Network (PSNet) Primers
- Physician-assisted death and euthanasia distinctions
SOC-EOL-067 questions · Review Book p. 29 · 2025/2022 AMA Code of Medical Ethics Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia
- Preventing healthcare-associated infections with safety bundles
SOC-QI-0828 questions · Review Book p. 57 · 2022 SHEA/AHA/APIC/IDSA Compendium of Strategies to Prevent HAIs; 2017 CDC Surgical Site Infection Guideline
- Professional boundaries — gifts and sexual conduct
SOC-PROF-0213 questions · Review Book p. 33 · AMA Code 1.2.8, 9.1.1–2, 1.2.1, 3.2.1, 9.4.2; APA Ethics §2.1 (2013); FSMB sexual misconduct (2020), self/family care (2021)
- QI methodology frameworks — Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) and Lean
SOC-QI-0319 questions · Review Book p. 49 · IHI Model for Improvement
- QI tools — fishbone, Pareto and control charts
SOC-QI-0413 questions · Review Book p. 51 · 2017 IHI Quality Improvement Essentials Toolkit
- Refusal of care and religious objections
SOC-CON-0416 questions · Review Book p. 15 · 2021 ACOG Committee Opinion 819 Informed Consent and Shared Decision Making; ACOG Committee Opinion 664 Refusal of Medically Recommended Treatment During Pregnancy
- Scope of practice and delegation of care
SOC-PROF-042 questions · Review Book p. 36 · ACGME Common Program Requirements — Residency; AMA Code of Medical Ethics
- Social determinants of health and equity
SOC-SDOH-0114 questions · Review Book p. 63 · 2020 HHS Healthy People 2030 Social Determinants of Health; CMS Accountable Health Communities (AHC)-HRSN Screening Tool
- Surrogate decision-making hierarchy at end of life
SOC-EOL-0220 questions · Review Book p. 24 · AMA Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 2.1.2 (Decisions for Adult Patients Who Lack Capacity)
- Transitions of care and discharge planning
SOC-QI-0920 questions · Review Book p. 59 · 2019 CMS Discharge Planning Conditions of Participation; 2025 CMS Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program
- Value-based payment and healthcare economics
SOC-QI-115 questions · Review Book p. 61 · CMS Quality Payment Program; 2025 CMS Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program
- Who may consent — minors and surrogates
SOC-CON-0311 questions · Review Book p. 14 · 2016 AAP Informed Consent in Decision-Making in Pediatric Practice
- Withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining treatment
SOC-EOL-036 questions · Review Book p. 25 · 2022 AMA Code of Medical Ethics Withholding Life-Sustaining Treatment; 2015 ATS/AACN/ACCP/ESICM/SCCM Potentially Inappropriate Treatments in ICUs
Written and clinically reviewed by TheCodexes.com (editorial policy). Guideline citations are the primary sources each topic follows.