PER S P E C T I V ES
VOL 2
ISSUE 3
APPLIED PRACTICE
OCTOBER 2010
IN THIS ISSUE
Starting or Leaving a Practice?
Guided Reflection Scenario - Starting a
Practice
Physiotherapist Support Personnel
Learning Through the Experience of
Others - Professional Conduct Case Study
Practice Assessments - How Random is
Random?
My Title, Your Protection
Help Us Help You
Boundaries: E-Learning Module &
Podcast
Trends and Tips to Protect Your Patients
COLLEGE OF PHYS I OTH E RA P I STS O F O NTA R I O
375 U N IVERSITY AVE N U E S U ITE 9 0 1
TORONTO, ONTAR I O M 5 G 2 J 5
TE L 4 1 6 . 5 9 1 . 3 8 2 8
1 . 8 0 0. 5 8 3 . 5 8 8 5
FA X 4 1 6 . 5 9 1 . 3 8 3 4
W E B S ITE www.collegept.org
[email protected]
E MA I L
2 College of Physiotherapists of Ontario
The applied practice stream of Perspectives is a challenging one for the College. The aim is to be current, to be relevant
to practice and to be awareness-oriented. Sometimes this is about new issues, yet surprisingly, many themes repeat
themselves either with new twists or just information that bears repeating.
This issue, when you boil it down, is about supports and resources that facilitate sound practice, safe practice, quality
practice, ethical practice. The themes you’ll find inside are particularly relevant to the professions’ relationships –
relationships with support workers (supervision) and separately, relationships with patients (boundaries).
As an evidence-based and practical profession, the College attempts to frame our data in “real” practice scenarios based on
physiotherapy practice from actual practice advice questions and from cases from the complaints process. So, how can you
use them in your practice?
Take this opportunity to use the tools provided to seek feedback, ask questions and discuss your perspectives with other
colleagues. Applied practice learnings – they exist and are always one source and one step at a time. Here’s to quality care!
Starting or Leaving a Practice?
– New tools to help you in your
transition
We are often asked questions about the business of
starting or leaving a practice and so, the College is pleased
to announce it has developed two new practice tools
that will help physiotherapists meet their professional
obligations in this regard. These resources have taken
some time to develop but we believe they are worth the
wait.
These documents can also be found in the Registrants’
Guide under the heading, ‘Practice Tools’.
Please contact the Practice Advisor if you have any
additional questions related to these resources.
[email protected]
416-591-3828 Ext. 241
1-800-583-5885 Ext. 241
Guided Reflection Scenario – Starting
a Practice
There are many considerations when starting or leaving a
practice and the College recognizes that physiotherapists
want to make thoughtful, informed decisions. Our main
goal in developing these resources has been to highlight
these areas to assist you. While we are not the expert in
all areas of business practise, we do have a good idea of
the resources physiotherapists may find helpful at these
points of transition.
Carol decided to start her own practice after working many
years within an acute care setting. She had great contacts
in the community and she thought the transition from a
public to a private environment would be fairly smooth. In
preparation for this change, Carol planned to invest some
time to research how she would go about starting her new
business.
Each practice tool contains links to College and other
resources. Please recognize that while many links are
embedded within these two documents, not all will be
necessary to review. Consider your practice setting to
determine what information may be relevant.
Carol wondered how her knowledge compared to other
physiotherapists with more years of experience in private
practice. Rather than guess, she decided to seek out
feedback from reliable and trusted peers. Carol chose peers
that understood her area of practice and the context in
which she planned to worked.
To view ‘Considerations When Starting a Practice’ visit:
tinyurl.com/startingpractice
To view ‘Leaving a Practice’ visit: tinyurl.com/
leavingpractice
As part of her preparation she also sought out additional
resources and found the College had several resources
including a checklist called: ‘Considerations When Starting
College of Physiotherapists of Ontario
Myth: If a
physiotherapist hires
someone to run
their business, this
absolves them of direct
responsibility for any
errors or omissions
related to their
business practices.
Truth: In reality,
physiotherapists are
accountable for their
business and are
expected to ensure
that the standards
of practice of the
profession are being
met. For example,
physiotherapists
need to ensure that
invoicing completed by
an office administrator
is periodically reviewed
and any errors are
corrected.
a Practice’. She
provided her peers
with this checklist
as well to begin
discussions and to
gather any additional
knowledge they could
share. Information
gathered suggested
that overall she would
manage the transition
to private practice very
well, but there were
areas needing greater
attention.
Having worked in a
hospital for so long,
Carol realized that
she took for granted
the daily operations
that were completed
on behalf of the
physiotherapy team.
Carol made a special
effort to take the
feedback seriously
while developing her
practice. Carol found
this exercise to be helpful in preparation for the opening
of her business and creating relationships with her peers.
Some of the questions Carol needed to consider when
setting up her practice included:
1. How would she ensure ongoing care for her
patients if she became sick or needed to be away
suddenly?
2. How would she ensure the accuracy of her
billing?
3. What safety hazards should she consider?
4. What responsibilities does she have as the
Health Information Custodian (HIC)?
In addition to opening a new practice, Carol learned
that seeking out reliable peer feedback and using tools
3
from external sources such as the ‘Considerations When
Starting a Practice’ checklist to assist her in the process of
self assessing her own knowledge and abilities had been
a useful and a productive exercise. She decided she would
repeat this exercise periodically in future. It had not only
provided her with the confidence to start her practice but
to improve in identified areas.
Tips:
1. Identify peers or a mentor to assist you when
making changes in your practice.
2. Identify and research possible resources
available through other organizations such as
the Information and Privacy Commission.
3. Take the time to periodically review the
College’s website home page to find out what
new resources are available.
www.collegept.org
4. Contact the Practice Advisor if you need
assistance identifying appropriate resources [email protected]
5. Access the new ‘Considerations for Starting a
Practice’ checklist and the ‘Leaving a Practice’
resources:
tinyurl.com/startingpractice
tinyurl.com/leavingpractice
6. Visit the ‘Professional Portfolio Guide and
Forms’ section of Quality Management
webpages: tinyurl.com/proportfolio. Select
a professional development activity sheet
relevant to your learning style. For example,
the Learning Plan is an activity to identify first
a learning need, then who, what, when, and
how the need will be addressed. This activity
will allow self-monitoring of the progress of
new learning in practice.
4 College of Physiotherapists of Ontario
Physiotherapist Support Personnel
Frequently Asked Questions
Physiotherapists often work in treatment settings as part
of a larger team that can include physiotherapist support
personnel. Physiotherapist support personnel come from
various educational backgrounds or job specific training
experiences, and like physiotherapists, will contact the
Practice Advisor with questions related to the appropriate
assignment and supervision of tasks.
This article highlights a few questions that are commonly
posed to the Practice Advisor:
Q. How much supervision is required when treatment is
assigned to a support person?
A. Most physiotherapists who ask this question are
looking for a definitive answer. Unfortunately, there
is no clear cut answer that can be applied to every
setting. The amount of supervision will depend on a
number of factors. The good news is that the College
has updated the resources to assist physiotherapists
in answering this question. In fact, the new
‘Guide to the Standard of Professional Practice:
Physiotherapists Working with Physiotherapist
Support Personnel' includes a similar question.
The Guide also includes a list of ‘Factors to
Consider when Assigning and Supervising Care to
Physiotherapist Support Personnel’ which is located
in Appendix A. These considerations include factors
related to the: patient, support person, environment,
physiotherapy treatment and the physiotherapist.
For example, when deciding how much supervision is
necessary, the following should be considered:
• The acuity of the patient’s condition (a
patient factor)
• The experience of the support person (a
support personnel factor)
• The support person’s current workload
demands (an environmental factor)
• The risk associated with the treatment (a
physiotherapy treatment factor)
• The sphere of competence of the
physiotherapist (a physiotherapist factor)
While this demonstrates a few of the factors to be
considered, this is not an exhaustive list. Again, refer
to Appendix A in the Guide for other considerations in
addition to factors you may identify which are specific
to your setting.
Ultimately, each individual physiotherapist must
make a decision about the amount of supervision
required to ensure safe, quality care in the best
interest of the patient, as the physiotherapist is
accountable for his/her choices.
Q. A long term care facility would like the support
person to also run a daily, 30 minute, general
exercise program. Residents do not need to be
assessed by a physiotherapist to participate in this
class. If a resident is injured during the class, will the
physiotherapist be accountable?
A. While the setting and the details of the scenario
may vary, accountability is often a concern for
physiotherapists.
It is important for physiotherapists to understand
that they are accountable for the treatment that they
assign to a support person as part of a physiotherapy
treatment program and for appropriately supervising
the support person. In this scenario, the support
person has multiple roles within the facility,
including acting as a physiotherapist support person
(when carrying out treatment activities that have
been assigned by the physiotherapist) and also
as an exercise class leader (that is separate from
physiotherapy treatment). In other words, because
the physiotherapist is not assigning the exercise class
to the support person, he/she would likely not be
accountable for the support person’s actions during
the exercise class.
However, it is important that the physiotherapist,
support person, other team members and residents
understand the various roles and accountabilities
of physiotherapist and support person within the
facility.
Q. A kinesiology student was hired to work as a support
person in a physiotherapist owned clinic. What title
is he required to use?
College of Physiotherapists of Ontario
A. In Ontario, support personnel are not regulated and
do not have a protected title. It is up to the facility to
determine what job title the person may use.
New Physiotherapist Support Personnel
Tools
Job titles are different from protected titles. If the
individual is working as a physiotherapist support
person under the supervision of a physiotherapist
it is likely best to use a job title that accurately
reflects this role. The fact that the individual is also a
kinesiology student is likely not relevant to the role he
will be playing.
Recently, the College released a new ‘E-Learning
Module – Support Personnel’, created in partnership
with the College of Occupational Therapists
of Ontario to promote and support working
relationships between physiotherapists, occupational
therapists and the support personnel on their
teams. By encouraging and developing strong team
relationships, patients will reap the benefits.
Topics for Discussion:
The feedback of the module to date has been very
positive. Here are some comments from individuals
that have already completed the chapters:
The following questions have been created to
facilitate discussion with your team:
•
How can physiotherapists ensure that
support personnel demonstrate and maintain
competency?
•
How can a team effectively communicate to
ensure everyone understands the roles and
responsibilities of each team member?
•
Why is it important for patients to understand
the difference between each team member’s
job title or role?
“I think the Practice Scenarios will be quite valuable to
review as a team.”
“I really enjoyed doing the E-Learning Module. It had
just the right amount of information to review key
concepts when working with support personnel and
the scenarios were thought-provoking. The length of
time that it took to complete the whole module in
one sitting was perfect - and it was great that it could
be broken into smaller ‘chunks’ to fit in with busy
schedules.”
“Thank you for this E-Module. It generated a great deal
of discussion.”
“We wanted to do some sort of education/
communication with our support personnel and
managers at our hospital and these chapters will be
helpful.”
Additionally, the College has created a section of
the website specifically for physiotherapist support
personnel to access relevant College resources and
tools. We hope you will take time to share these
new resources with the support personnel on your
team and encourage them to visit tinyurl.com/
supportpersonnel.
Please continue to watch for new resources from the
College as part of the Support Personnel Program.
5
6 College of Physiotherapists of Ontario
Learning Through the Experiences of Others
The College learns of current physiotherapy practice and practice trends through different sources. This may include
education sessions, practice advice, trends identified in the quality management program, and inquiries, complaints
and reports concerning registrants that have been brought to the College’s attention for review and consideration.
The College uses this information and data to assist in the development of standards and associated tools and
resources which in turn, assist physiotherapists in meeting the standards of practice of the profession. In the past,
the College published case studies in the newsletter, Communiqué, as a way in which to share this data.
In an effort to continue to support ongoing learning, the College is re-introducing case studies in Perspectives. It is
our hope that in reviewing these real life scenarios you will take the opportunity to discuss them with your peers,
reflect on your own practice and make changes if necessary. Each case study will include a resource section that will
highlight “lessons learned” and tips for consideration, supporting open dialogue and ongoing learning.
Reported cases will highlight concerns that were reviewed by the Inquiries Complaints and Reports Committee
(ICRC) and resulted in an outcome other than a referral to the Discipline Committee for a hearing. As a reminder, the
College is obligated to post summaries of all discipline cases on its website. To review these summaries, visit tinyurl.
com/disciplinedecisions.
Case Study
The College received information from a member of the
public expressing concern regarding the use of, and billing
for, services provided by support personnel at a particular
facility.
The information suggested that support personnel
were conducting the initial assessments for patients,
overseeing some, or all of the care being provided, and
that this service was being invoiced to a third party payor
as physiotherapy being provided by a physiotherapist.
Investigation
After an extensive investigation, ICRC reviewed this
matter and found that support personnel were indeed
conducting initial assessments and providing ongoing
care to patients. A physiotherapist was onsite at the
facility at all times in the event that something arose that
needed to be addressed. Additionally, it was confirmed
that third party payors were billed for the services
provided by the support personnel under the name and
registration number of the physiotherapist.
Committee Review
ICRC reviewing this matter expressed concern that
support personnel were conducting the initial
assessments and developing treatment plans. Even
though a physiotherapist was onsite and reviewed the
treatment plans, the accountability and responsibility of
the physiotherapist had been inappropriately assigned.
While the Committee referred to the ‘Standards for
Professional Practice – Record Keeping’, ‘Fees & Billing’ and
‘Physiotherapists Working with Support Personnel’ in their
entirety, the Committee specifically referenced section 6
of the ‘Standard for Professional Practice: Physiotherapists
Working with Support Personnel’ which states that
physiotherapists cannot assign any physiotherapy
intervention that has an evaluation component that
immediately influences the treatment program.
Decision
At the conclusion of their deliberations, ICRC confirmed
that the allegations were serious in nature in that the
support personnel were not being used in a manner that
was consistent with the Standard. As an extension of this,
accounts were submitted to third party payors which were
misleading.
College of Physiotherapists of Ontario
The Committee confirmed the seriousness of the
allegations by issuing a decision which would focus on
ensuring that the ‘Standards of Professional Practice’ are
maintained to protect the public interest.
Tips:
1. Ensure you understand your professional
obligations related to the use of support
personnel and introduce your support
personnel to the new section of the website
dedicated to support personnel. This will help
all members of the team stay informed. Visit
tinyurl.com/collegepsp.
2. Encourage your support persons and other
team members to complete the new online
‘E-Learning Module: Support Personnel’ as a
group. Visit tinyurl.com/elearningpsp.
3. Communicate regularly and often with your
support person(s) to ensure the best interests
of the patients are being met.
Lessons Learned:
Physiotherapists are responsible for ensuring
that patients are appropriately assessed and
treatment is assigned once consent is obtained
from the patient. Additionally, ongoing
reassessment by the physiotherapist must occur
to determine if the role of the support person
should change. These statements are supported
by the ‘Standard for Professional Practice:
Physiotherapists Working with Physiotherapist
Support Personnel’ by the statement that
physiotherapists cannot assign an evaluation
component that immediately influences the
treatment.
Notwithstanding, physiotherapists have
accountabilities beyond their patients and
professional obligations. They are expected to
meet the expectations of third party payors in
regard to billing.
How Random is Random?
As a resolution to this matter, the physiotherapist
agreed to participate in an extensive acknowledgement
and undertaking (A&U) with the College. An A&U is
a voluntary agreement with the College which uses a
variety of tools and resources to assist physiotherapists
in meeting the standards of professional practice. In
this case, the physiotherapist was required to complete
reflective papers, amend existing policies related to the
use of support personnel, and host a staff education
session facilitated by the College, focussing on the use of
support personnel. In addition, the physiotherapist was
required to review all relevant standards and participate
in an onsite assessment. Lastly, the physiotherapist
contributed some monies toward the cost of the
investigation. After the remediation program was
completed, the physiotherapist attended before the
Committee to discuss the impact that the investigation
and decision had on their practice.
Assessment of Practice
By now, you or someone you know may have completed
the Practice Assessment, one of the components of the
Quality Management Program. The current assessment
method has been in existence since 2005 and since
its launch, approximately 2000 physiotherapists have
completed the assessment.
The goal of the Practice Assessment is to provide an
objective assessment and review of a physiotherapist’s
practice in relation to the standards of practice of
the profession and to ensure the quality of care
provided to the public. It can also be a tool used to
assist physiotherapists in the enhancement of their
performance in the workplace. A report containing the
assessment results is made public in aggregate format.
Given that physiotherapists are eligible to participate
once every five years, most will be eligible on more than
one occasion and some may be chosen more than once.
7
8 College of Physiotherapists of Ontario
How does this work?
College staff is directed by Council each year to
randomly select a fixed percentage or a ‘sample’ from
the population of
physiotherapists in
Ontario who hold
an Independent
Practice Certificate,
are involved in direct
patient care and
have practised for
over three years. This
year, approximately
300, or 5% of
physiotherapists,
must be randomly
selected. Spread
over the course
of the year,
physiotherapists ‘selected’ are chosen entirely by chance
using a sophisticated computer-based algorithm by an
external company to ensure randomness.
Once a physiotherapist has completed an assessment,
their name is taken out the pool of eligibility for a period
of five years. After this period of ineligibility, their name
is put back into the selection pool. Just like other chance
happenings such as
being selected for jury
Random selection
duty, being struck by
lightening, or the more
means each
pleasant circumstance
physiotherapist
of winning the lottery,
has an equal
it could happen again
opportunity of
and the physiotherapist
could be reselected
being selected from
five or more years
the sample
later. The College looks
forward to adding
new data gathered in the possible second generation
of assessments as reselected registrants have the
opportunity to confirm the consistency of the program
outcomes which demonstrate commitment of the
profession to quality care.
My Title, Your Protection
The Public Communications Campaign has been
underway throughout the summer, but to be perfectly
honest, hasn’t really generated the uptake we had
expected. Following the initial wave of orders, we
conducted a customer satisfaction survey for all of those
who had ordered their free “starter kit” to determine key
areas of success and opportunity in order to strengthen
the campaign moving forward.
Although we weren’t inundated with comments, we
heard the good, the bad and the ugly, finding out what
was working (or not). We feel it is important to share with
you this information and what we’re doing to fix things,
as well as how your colleagues are using the materials in
their practice.
College of Physiotherapists of Ontario
Your Comments
Our Response
Materials (particularly posters) arrived crumpled
We have spoken to our distribution partner and they have
upgraded the packaging to prevent damage in shipment. If
you find this is still occurring, please contact the College.
Order processing time/delivery taking too long
We have asked our distributor to batch-process the orders
more frequently and to ship partial orders if some order
items are on back-order.
Not clear that “Starter Kits” are free
Each registrant is entitled to a free “starter kit”, however
you will need to enter the discount code (this was emailed
to you in May – contact the College if you need it resent)
in the check out process to ensure you receive the kit plus
shipping and handling at no charge.
Why did you use Purolator to ship rather than Canada Post?
We have a great discount with Purolator which is
significantly less expensive than Canada Post. To ensure
timely delivery, please remember to provide a shipping
address where packages can be sent during business hours.
You’re preaching to the converted. Why isn’t this message
going to non-patients?
Our research shows that patients don’t understand the
concept or value of regulation, they just assume you are
“qualified” to do what you do – just as they would anyone
performing “physiotherapy” services. The best place to
educate patients is at point of care – they are already “sold”
on physiotherapy and we can encourage them to seek out
safe quality care in the event of future need, as well as
educate those in their immediate circle of influence such as
family, colleagues and friends.
As for non-patients – our job is not to promote the
profession of physiotherapy (this is a role of the
Association), but again it’s to educate the public about the
safe, ethical and quality care they can expect to receive
when seeing a registered physiotherapist. This messaging
is being communicated through a series of print ads in
a variety of health and lifestyle magazines which are
distributed through doctors’ offices and free in drug stores,
as well as through selected public health tradeshows.
Don’t like the graphics or key messages
Communicating clearly with all audience members is a
difficult task, but we ultimately had to choose graphics
and key messaging that would best appeal to the average
patient who doesn’t understand or necessarily care about
regulation.
9
10 College of Physiotherapists of Ontario
Other Comments
Always a good idea to educate the public about title
protection and ensuring they receive physiotherapy care
from a qualified professional
Absolutely! In many cases, patients will require treatment
for a set duration and may not have need of a PT again for
many years. By understanding the importance of regulation
now, patients will be sure to seek out a qualified individual
in the future.
We can’t do enough to educate the public on the
differences between ours and other professions - there is
far too much confusion out there
As much as this campaign is about educating the public, it
is also about creating the dialogue between patient and PT
– “What does regulation mean?”
The poster is useful to me - I plaqued it and put it up in my
waiting area and other areas of the clinic
That’s a great idea!
The posters are displayed in public areas - not just in the
physiotherapy department
The posters are on the wall; the button is on the skeleton;
and pamphlets are on the counter
If you have the opportunity and work in a healthcare
setting where other patients might benefit from this
information, feel free to share!
Be creative! Generate even more public interest by stepping
outside of the box with your display – in this case, don’t
keep your skeleton in the closet – put a button or a t-shirt
on him!
In the end, we all support the same goal – making sure patients know and can rest assured that they are receiving safe,
ethical, quality care from a registered physiotherapist. This message will be much easier to communicate if patients begin to
see it in more and more places. It isn’t going to become common knowledge overnight, but if we work together to improve
our communications and encourage dialogue, change will happen.
If you have not yet ordered your free kit or would like to order additional items, I encourage you to do so. If you do not have
your login or discount code information or have comments, suggestions, or questions about the program, feel free to contact
me.
Karin Micheelsen
Director of Communications
[email protected]
416-591-3828 or 1-800-583-5885 Ext. 234
College of Physiotherapists of Ontario
Help Us Help You
The College has a legal
requirement under the
RHPA to operate a Quality
Management program. One
side is the assessment or the
“assurance” side, but on the
flip side, the program exists to
assist in the improvement of
care physiotherapists deliver
to patients and to promote
ongoing quality improvement
in practice.
Physiotherapists use many
different methods to improve
their practice. Intuitively, we
know this and we’ve seen
evidence in portfolios. We
don’t know however, what
methods the profession finds most useful. The College
wants to create resources, supports, and tools that are
relevant and helpful. To do this, we want to understand
what is working in practice right now.
We’ve chosen a new and exciting way to gather this
information – a Quality Management Blog. A blog is an
online commentary whereby users can anonymously post
their musings and others can read them. We will create a
Quality Management Blog on our website at tinyurl.com/
QualityManagementBlog where we will regularly post
questions and you will hopefully respond.
Two Simple Rules of the Blog
• Keep it topical – please restrict your comments to
the current question only
• We reserve the right to edit/remove posts based
on issues of privacy, conflict of interest, profanity
or any other issues of unsuitability
11
Question 1
Please share with us some of the ways you ensure
continuous improvement in your practice. Be as
descriptive or vague as you like – we’re eager to hear your
ideas!
Visit the blog here: tinyurl.com/QualityManagementBlog
Look in the next Perspectives for Question 2, as well as
some of your innovative ideas from Question 1.
Boundaries E-Learning Module and
PODCAST Now Available!
When registrants suggested a resource specific
to understanding and maintaining professional
boundaries would be helpful to their practice, the
College was happy to oblige.
A new ‘E-Learning Module: Understanding and
Maintaining Professional Boundaries’ is available
on the College website and provides a practical,
scenario-based tool to not only assist with
understanding and preventing boundary-related
issues, but to provide tips and tools on how to
manage boundary situations should they occur.
In addition to our usual formats; video and static
PDF, this module is also available as an audio
only podcast. This is an exciting new endeavour
and we’re keen to hear what you think. A short
evaluation survey is available at tinyurl.com/
boundariespodcast.
Other resources related to ethics and maintaining
professional relationships with patients are
also available (i.e. the ‘Standard for Professional
Practice: Establishing and Maintaining
Therapeutic Relationships’, the ‘Guide to the
Standard’, the ‘Code of Ethics’ and an ethical
decision making tool).
Visit our website at www.collegept.org to explore
these valuable resources.
12 College of Physiotherapists of Ontario
Trends and Tips to Protect Your
Patients
• Use administrative controls (e.g. security
clearances, access restrictions, staff training and
confidentiality agreements).
Lately you may have heard a lot about USB drives
(otherwise known as flash/thumb drives, or removable
storage) containing patient files or other confidential
materials being lost or stolen. While we are not aware of
this happening within our profession, this problem has
occurred fairly close to home, affecting patients and our
colleagues in other healthcare professions in Ontario.
• If a device is lost or stolen, inform the appropriate
authorities and affected parties, (i.e. Police, your
employer, the College, your affected patients,
Privacy Commissioner, etc.).
The College’s standards and regulations such as the
‘Standard for Professional Practice: Record Keeping’, the
‘Professional Misconduct Regulation’ and the ‘Privacy
Code’, as well as Ontario Government legislation including
PHIPA and PIPEDA, clearly outline the importance of
maintaining patient confidentiality and protecting the
privacy of patient health records. Failure to do so could
result in harm to your patients, extreme embarrassment,
media scrutiny, a professional conduct inquiry, or even
legal action.
• Whether saved electronically or in hard copy
paper format, our regulation states that the
patient’s health record should be retained for at
least ten years after the date of the last entry in
the record, or ten years after the day on which the
patient reaches, or would have reached, the age
of 18.
Help Your Patients – Help Yourself!
In light of the fact that the College supplies registrants
with their Registrants’ Guide on USB, we want to take this
opportunity to remind you:
• Do not use your Registrants’ Guide on USB to
store patient files!
• But also, if you store patient files electronically
(on USB, laptop, disk, or other data storage
device), ensure that the storage device has
technological security (e.g. password protection,
encryption, virus protection, firewalls, etc.) and
take the appropriate steps to ensure it is not lost
or stolen.
• Use physical security precautions (e.g. locked file
cabinets, restricted office access, office alarm
systems, etc.).
COLLEGE OF PHYS I OTH E RA P I STS O F O NTA R I O
375 U N IVERSITY AVE N U E S U ITE 9 0 1
TORONTO, ONTAR I O M 5 G 2 J 5
TE L 4 1 6 . 5 9 1 . 3 8 2 8
1 . 8 0 0. 5 8 3 . 5 8 8 5
FA X 4 1 6 . 5 9 1 . 3 8 3 4
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