No Change in ACOT’s Pandemic Guidance
The announcements made by the Chief Medical Officer of Health on July 28 and August 13 do not alter ACOT’s guidance outlined in the Safe Delivery of OT Services During the Transition from Pandemic to Endemic practice guideline at this time. This is particularly notable for OTs (and the support personnel they supervise/staff they employ):
- who are employed or contracted by schools, early childhood service providers, daycares/preschools;
- are in private practice (solo or group clinics);
- whose employer’s guidance does not at least meet or exceed ACOT’s guidance.
Please continue to mask during service delivery regardless of the vaccination status of yourself or your clients or co-workers. You can request your clients wear a mask during service delivery, but if they cannot/will not wear a mask, continue to employ other workplace controls noted in Appendix A of the ACOT guideline (including additional PPE – as per your risk assessment). See page 5 of the ACOT guideline for risks to consider and Appendix A for the workplace controls/PPE to use based on the risk assessment.
Volunteers Needed for ACOT Working Group
ACOT is a member of a national Steering Committee tasked with developing an e-learning module for the new national core competencies for occupational therapy practice in Canada. Each member of the Steering Committee has been asked to lead development of practice scenarios for the six competency domains:
A. Occupational Therapy Expertise,
B. Communication and Collaboration,
C. Culture, Equity and Justice,
D. Excellence in Practice,
E. Professional Responsibility, and
F. Engagement with the Profession.
The scenarios are intended to assist Canadian OTs in applying and testing their understanding of the new/expanded competency domains.
ACOT, in partnership with the Steering Committee representative from the Saskatchewan Society of OTs (SSOT), has been assigned to lead scenario development for the domains of Excellence in Practice, and Culture, Equity and Justice – note that all Steering Committee members will be responsible for preparing a scenario for the Culture, Equity and Justice domain.
Angela Meneley (formerly Sekulic) is seeking 2-3 OTs to join a short-term working group who will be responsible for contributing scenario ideas, scenario development and/or scenario review. The draft scenarios need to be submitted to the Steering Committee by the end of October and a commitment of ~ 6 hours (3 x 1hr meetings plus 3 hours outside of meetings) throughout September and October is expected. Please contact Angela directly for more information – first come, first served!
Top Causes of Unprofessional Conduct and Tips to Avoid It
Over the next editions of eNews, ACOT will provide the most common causes of unprofessional conduct across all health professions that can give rise to a complaint. Each edition will also provide tips on how to prevent a finding of unprofessional conduct.
Alcohol and Drug Addictions
Alcohol and drug addictions are the root cause of some of the most serious cases of unprofessional conduct.
What you can do:
- Keep yourself well.
- Realize that addiction to prescription drugs is a danger for health care professionals because of easy accessibility.
- Get help. Seek counselling. Contact Employee Assistance programs.
- There are addiction recovery programs in Alberta specially designed for health care professionals.
- Many professionals with substance abuse problems have destroyed their entire professional career because they have either refused to seek help or sought help too late.
James T. Casey, Q.C. Field Law
Content from this article has been published with the permission of Field Law, and may be republished only with the consent of Field Law. “Field Law” is a registered trademark of Field LLP.