Risk Management and Safety Standard of Practice PDF
Standard
The physiotherapist promotes and maintains a safe environment for clients, health-care providers, themselves, and others.
Expected outcomes
Clients can expect to be safe in the care of the physiotherapist and in the practice environment, and that any patient safety incidents will be appropriately addressed and disclosed promptly and transparently.
Performance expectations
Related to risk identification and mitigation
The physiotherapist:
- Identifies potential client safety risks relevant to the practice setting, method of service delivery, and client population served.
- Verifies that there are policies and procedures in place related to risk and crisis management and is knowledgeable about these procedures.
- Incorporates appropriate measures to mitigate/manage identified risks and adheres to safety best practices.
Related to physiotherapist training
The physiotherapist:
- Maintains their competency in safety protocols, procedures, and risk mitigation measures relevant to their practice.
- Participates in emergency preparedness and response training appropriate to the practice setting, method of service delivery, client population served, and identified safety risks.
Related to client Interactions
The physiotherapist:
- Provides a clean and safe physiotherapy practice environment.
- Confirms that all equipment and electrophysical modalities are clean, safe, and maintained and calibrated in accordance with manufacturer specifications, and retains documentation of equipment calibration and maintenance for ten (10) years.
- Verifies clients’ identities to confirm that the correct physiotherapy services are provided.
- Applies appropriate safety procedures when using equipment or electrophysical modalities.
Related to responding to patient safety incidents
The physiotherapist:
- Recognizes the occurrence of patient safety incidents and near misses.
- Responds immediately to patient safety incidents to minimize the impact on the client.
- Documents patient safety incidents and near misses in the client’s treatment record and completes reports appropriate to the practice setting in accordance with employer policies and procedures.
- Contributes to the collection of data to identify, manage, remediate, and prevent potential risks and patient safety incidents relevant to the practice setting and population served.
- Discloses details of patient safety incidents related to physiotherapy services to the client and appropriate parties promptly and transparently.
