College-Selected Activity

Learning objectives:

After reviewing the practice resources, you know:

• The personal, administrative, engineered and elimination measures to control the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19.
• How to apply these measures within your practice context to limit the spread of COVID-19.
• How to respond if experiencing signs or symptoms of respiratory illness.
• How to react if you encounter a patient exhibiting signs or symptoms of respiratory illness or reporting risks related to COVID-19.

Review the following practice resources:

• Infection Control Standard of Practice
• Infection Prevention and Control Guide
• Guidance for Resuming Physiotherapy Practice during a Pandemic

After reviewing the resources, take a few minutes to consider, either on your own or with your colleagues, how this information informs your behaviours and your practice. We’ve given you some guiding questions to help you get started:

Infection Control Standard of Practice

• How are my colleagues and I trained in infection prevention and control practices?
• What infection prevention and control best practices are applicable to our practice setting?

Infection Prevention and Control Guide

• What infection transmission risks exist in our practice setting, and how can we break the chain of transmission?
• How consistent are our hand hygiene practices with the World Health Organizations’ “5 Moments of Hand Hygiene” and how could we improve our adherence?
• What administrative and engineered controls do we have in place to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and how well are they working?

Guidance for Resuming Physiotherapy Practice during a Pandemic

• How has patient pre-appointment screening been working and what changes might be needed to make sure that patients, physiotherapists, and other staff work together to limit the spread of COVID-19?
• What are the challenges of staff daily self-monitoring for COVID-19 symptoms, and what supports are needed to maintain efforts to identify symptoms and staying home when ill?
• Are there risks unique to our practice that we need to manage (e.g., patient population, staff health, other)?
• Are there measures that we need to consider adding or eliminating to manage the risks of COVID-19 in our practice?

Optional resources to support your learning

• Physiotherapy Alberta’s College Conversations Podcast Episode 13 – Making Lasting Changes in the Wake of COVID-19
• FAQ: Masks and Physiotherapy

Learning objectives:

After reading and considering the resources Physiotherapy Alberta developed, you know:

1. “Who is a patient” as defined by the Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct Standard of Practice.
2. Why and how the standard of practice and guides for protecting patients from sexual abuse or misconduct are relevant to your practice.

Read: Resources Physiotherapy Alberta developed to protect you and your patients:

Who is a patient?

• Standard of Practice: Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct
• Introducing the New Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct Standard of Practice: Who is a Patient?

Protecting patients from sexual abuse or misconduct

• A Guide for Patients: What can patients expect from their physiotherapist
• A Guide for Physiotherapists: Expectations for physiotherapists

Watch:

• College-Selected Activity: Understanding Bill 21, An Act to Protect Patients.

After you’ve read the resources, take a few minutes to consider, either on your own or with co-workers, how this information informs your behaviors within your practice environment.  We’ve given you some guiding questions.

Standard of Practice: Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct

• Do you understand when an individual you have treated would be considered to still be your patient, even though you have not seen them for treatment recently?
• Are there situations where you encounter patients, as defined by the Standard, in social situations? What steps might you take to mitigate any risks that such encounters may pose to you?

Protecting Patients from Sexual Abuse or Misconduct: expectations for physiotherapists (A Guide)

• Were you surprised by the reported prevalence of sexual abuse in Canada? How will this knowledge affect how you interact with patients or others in the clinical environment?
• Looking back on past patient interactions, can you think of a time when a patient did not react as expected to something you said or did in the context of physiotherapy care? Could a patient history of sexual abuse explain the patient’s reactions? What would you do differently if faced with the situation again?
• Are there activities you engage in in your clinical practice which could re-traumatize a patient who is a survivor of sexual abuse? With this realization, how will you modify your approach to avoid re-traumatizing your future patients?

Protecting Patients from Sexual Abuse or Misconduct: what can patients expect from their physiotherapist (A Guide)

• What factors in your practice contribute to the power imbalance between you and your patients? What do you do to try to minimize the imbalance?  
• What strategies could you implement to make your patients feel less vulnerable, and thereby minimize the power imbalance between patient and physiotherapist?
• Are there clinical practices that you engage in that could be misinterpreted by a patient? What steps have you taken to ensure that the physiotherapy purpose of these activities is clear to the patient and that you have the patient’s consent to engage in the activity?