The CPTA's College Conversations – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Over the last couple of years, there has been a steady increase in the public discourse about artificial intelligence or AI. Since the release of the generative AI tool ChatGPT4 in spring of 2023 we have seen the emergence of AI tools designed to support charting of health care services and platforms to support clinical decision making in health care, including those designed for or applicable to physiotherapy practice.

What does this all mean for Alberta physiotherapists? Can physiotherapists use AI in clinical practice? What are the risks they should be aware of? Check out this episode to learn more about regulatory considerations of consent, privacy, quality and accuracy; and the physiotherapist’s responsibilities if they choose to use AI tools in their practice.

While it’s easy to get caught up in the hype about these tools, physiotherapists need to take the time to understand the AI tools they use and what they do and don’t offer. 

Resources:

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Speakers: Amanda Gould and Leanne Loranger

Amanda Gould, Indigenous Knowledge Keeper, and Cultural Advisor to the College joins Leanne on this special, extended episode, of College Conversations. We discuss the sharing circles the College engaged in earlier this year, bringing Indigenous people and physiotherapists together, and the key learnings that arose from the sharing circles.

Listen to this episode to learn more about what sharing circles are, what the College learned from the sharing circles held in early 2024, and the College’s next steps towards addressing Indigenous cultural safety and health equity.

Resources:

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Speakers:  Leanne Loranger, Jody Prohar, and Joyce Vogelgesang

On this episode of College Conversations Jody, Joyce, and Leanne talk about concerning trends in the number and nature of complaints received by the College during the 2022-2023 registration year. The College has seen an increase in the number of complaints received, and the number of complaints pertaining to sexual abuse particularly.

Four years have passed since the Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct Standard of Practice came into force. In this episode, Jody, Joyce, and Leanne review the key components of the Standard of Practice and discuss some of the actions by health professionals that have led to complaints of sexual abuse or sexual misconduct.

Find out how recent complaints data from the College of Physiotherapists of Alberta compares to that of other “hands on” health professions in Alberta. The College is concerned about these statistics and physiotherapists should be too.

Listen to this episode to understand why the College is calling on all registrants to revisit the performance expectations established in the Standard and to reflect on their current practice and interactions with patients.

Resources:

·       Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct Standard of Practice

·       College of Physiotherapists of Alberta - Complaints  

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Speakers:  Leanne Loranger and Sean FitzGerald

Being a member of a small community poses some unique challenges for regulated health professionals. There is the potential for conflicts of interest and risks related to the ability to set and maintain appropriate professional boundaries with patients.

What does the College mean when it says that physiotherapists should refrain from providing services to an individual with whom they have a close personal relationship? Which relationships are considered to be a close personal relationship?

What are some recommendations if you do need to treat someone with whom you also have a personal relationship?

What about the challenges of navigating a small community and informal interactions with past or current patients occurring outside of the practice setting?

How can physiotherapists also have a life outside of work as a member of a small community?

What about making friends in town or developing a network of peer health professionals with whom to discuss challenging situations?

We address the College’s perspective on these questions and more in this episode.    

Resources:

·       Conflict of Interest Standard of Practice

·       Therapeutic Relationships Guide for Alberta Physiotherapists

·       Good Practice – Conflict of Interest

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One of the most common topics of the questions brought to the College is that of privacy and the legislative and regulatory requirements that physiotherapists must meet in relation to patient privacy. With physiotherapists subject to as many as four different pieces of privacy legislation depending on their area of practice and patient population, it’s easy to understand why.

In this episode of College Conversations, Sean and Leanne complete a brief review of privacy legislation in Alberta, the core principles that they share, and the differences between different pieces of legislation. In the second half of the episode, they answer some frequently asked and recent challenging questions that the College has received.

Leanne and Sean also highlight the many resources available, both through the College of Physiotherapists of Alberta and from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, to help physiotherapists navigate the complicated world of privacy in physiotherapy practice.

Resources:

·       Privacy Standard

·       Privacy Guide

·       Leaving a Practice Guide

·       OPIC Video Surveillance in the Private Sector

·       OPIC Bring Your Own Device Resources

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Speakers:  Leanne Loranger and Sean FitzGerald

Physiotherapist support workers are an essential element to a functioning health system. In this episode, Leanne and Sean discuss the range of backgrounds, educations and experiences people working as physiotherapist support workers may possess and the implications of physiotherapist support workers being unregulated health providers.

They review the performance expectations that physiotherapists must adhere to when supervising physiotherapist support workers and the importance of understanding the skills and knowledge of the physiotherapist support workers you work with.

Toward the end of the episode, they discuss the College’s perspective on the importance of establishing when a supervision relationship exists between a physiotherapist and an unregulated health provider and touch on the different methods of supervision physiotherapists can employ when supervising physiotherapist support workers.

Resources:

·       Supervision Standard of Practice

·       Supervision Guide for Alberta Physiotherapists

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Speakers:  Jody Prohar and Leanne Loranger

Over the last few months, there has been a near constant stream of media coverage related to health workforce labour shortages and actions taken by governments, regulators, and other organizations to address the issue.

In this episode, Jody and Leanne discuss actions taken by the provincial governments in Ontario and Nova Scotia and recent changes to Alberta legislation that are all intended to attract health professionals to the respective provinces.

They provide an overview of the Fair Registration Practices Act and the Labour Mobility Act - two pieces of legislation which apply to the physiotherapy workforce. These pieces of legislation establish specific timelines and responsibilities for the College of Physiotherapists of Alberta related to registering physiotherapists who are moving to Alberta from other jurisdictions – both from within Canada and from other countries.  

What does it all mean for Alberta physiotherapists? Listen to the episode to find out more.

Resources:

·       Government of Alberta. Fair Registration Practices Code.  

·       Government of Alberta. Labour Mobility Within Canada.  

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Speakers:  Jody Prohar and Leanne Loranger

The College of Physiotherapists of Alberta has had provision of professional services rules in place for several years. The rules stem from the College’s legislated authority to “approve practice settings where physiotherapists provide services.” In this episode, Jody and Leanne discuss the rationale behind the rules, policy updates that were implemented in 2023, and what those updates mean for physiotherapists and business owners.

Do you have questions about:

·       The role of the designated owner of a practice setting?

·       The mandatory learning modules in place for Most Responsible Physiotherapists (MRPTs) and some business owners?

·       The agreement that MRPTs enter into with the College?

·       The transition to online applications?

If so, this is the episode for you!

Resources:

• Episode 37: Thinking About Opening a Physiotherapy Business? Start Here!
• College of Physiotherapists of Alberta. Provision of Professional Services.

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Physiotherapists have fundamental obligations to provide safe, competent, effective care to their clients, and to provide for continuity of care whenever a therapeutic relationship has been established. The concept of a duty of care underlies long standing professional norms and expectations.

In this episode we discuss recurring challenges that physiotherapists may encounter related to the duty of care that they have towards their clients, including:

·       The physiotherapist’s responsibility to maintain the therapeutic relationship and take responsibility for conflict resolution.

·       Challenges related to discharging patients who still require treatment, but with whom the physiotherapist is unable to maintain a therapeutic relationship, and the physiotherapist’s responsibility to arrange for continuity of care.

·       Expectations related to informed consent and shared decision making such as the requirements of avoiding providing inappropriate or ineffective treatment and respecting the patient’s right to make decisions about their own care. We also discuss how to navigate the challenging situations that can arise when a patient declines or refuses treatment and the physiotherapist thinks the patient’s choice of action is unsafe.

The Standards of Practice and Code of Ethical Conduct set out the expectations for physiotherapists related to duty of care. In this episode we elaborate on those expectations and discuss real world scenarios that physiotherapists may encounter from time to time.

Resources:

• Code of Ethical Conduct https://www.cpta.ab.ca/for-physiotherapists/regulatory-expectations/code-of-ethics/ 
• Standards of Practice https://www.cpta.ab.ca/for-physiotherapists/regulatory-expectations/standards-of-practice/

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Speakers:  Jody Prohar, Joyce Vogelgesang, and Leanne Loranger

To be eligible to renew their College of Physiotherapists of Alberta practice permit each year, physiotherapists are required to meet currency of practice requirements. The most common way to meet these requirements is to have engaged in the practice of physiotherapy for at least 1200 hours in the 5 registration years immediately preceding the application for permit renewal. Each year the College of Physiotherapists of Alberta receives many questions from regulated physiotherapists regarding practice hours and currency of practice requirements.

Have you ever wondered

·       How many hours a registrant must work to meet the currency of practice requirements?

·       What types of hours count towards meeting the currency requirements?

·       Whether a physiotherapist is required to count their hours of practice?

·       When to report physiotherapy practice hours and what information to include? And

·       What happens if the physiotherapist does not meet the currency requirement?

If so, this episode is for you!

Resources:

• Practice Permit Renewal. https://www.cpta.ab.ca/for-physiotherapists/registration-information/practice-permit-renewal/

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