Consent Standard of Practice
Standard
The physiotherapist obtains clients’ ongoing informed consent for the delivery of physiotherapy services.
Expected outcome
Clients can expect that they will be informed of the options, risks, and benefits of proposed services, asked to provide their consent, and that the physiotherapist will respect their right to question, refuse options, and/or withdraw from services at any time.
Performance expectations
The physiotherapist:
- Communicates with clients to explain and facilitate their understanding of physiotherapy service options.
- Explains to clients the risks and benefits of physiotherapy service options and the consequences of participating or not in proposed interventions.
- Obtains and documents clients’ ongoing informed consent to proposed services.
- Respects the autonomy of clients to question, decline options, refuse, and/or withdraw from services at any time.
- Obtains informed consent from the appropriate individual, according to applicable legislation and regulatory requirements, in cases when clients are incompetent, incapacitated, and/or unable to provide consent.
- In situations of physiotherapy research, obtains approval from the appropriate research ethics authority and informed consent from clients prior to their participation in studies.
