“How do I respond to a client/patient who declines my recommended treatment plan?”
“I am not clear on how to apply the practice standard on Indigenous Cultural Safety, Humility, and Anti-Racism – can you explain it further?”
“My client is temporarily living in another province. Can I provide virtual services under my registration in BC or do I need to register in the other province?”
These are just some of the 461 inquiries fielded by our practice support team members between September and November last year.
As the regulator for nine health professions, the College does not simply set requirements for practice: we also support our registrants in upholding them. We have professional expertise on our Quality Practice staff team, including registrants in audiology, dietetics, hearing instrument dispensing, physical therapy, psychology, and speech-language pathology. We have hired new practice advisors for both optometry and occupational therapy, both of whom will be joining the staff team shortly. Recruitment is also underway for the opticianry role – after which we will have practice advisors for each of the nine professions we regulate.
The practice support service is provided in a confidential and supportive environment. Registrants may receive support by email, phone or virtual meeting. The advisors keep track of the questions to be able to spot practice trends, identify emerging issues, and to support the development of educational resources.
Some of the main themes that have emerged this year are:
- Release of records
- Obtaining clinical consent
- Documentation & records management
- Scope of practice
- Interprofessional collaborative practice
- Marketing & advertising
- Virtual care
Our practice advisors provide guidance on how standards of practice, clinical policies, clinical practice guidelines and protocols, and related documents may be interpreted and can be implemented in practice. The goal is to assist registrants to find solutions to their practice issues given the complexity of health care delivery today.
Anyone – registrants or members of the public – with a question about CHCPBC’s expectations for safe, ethical and quality practice is welcome to contact our practice support team. You can use the Contact form (choose “Practice Support” as the subject of enquiry) or by phone at 1-877-742-6715 (press #3 for practice support), or by email at practicesupport@chcpbc.org.
