Not necessarily and often the ones we have seen are insufficient when compared with the guidelines referenced by our Virtual Care Toolkit. Please review the consent section in the Virtual Care Toolkit. You will likely need to provide separate consent or have the ability to modify the consent built into the platform in order to meet the recommendations of CPTBC / PABC in the Virtual Care Toolkit and the requirements of CPTBC’s Practice Standards. Keep in mind that at a minimum you will need consent for the visit to occur virtually, as well as consent for the specific physical therapy treatment plan you propose.
As there are a number of items to explain to a patient when obtaining verbal consent, we have recommended written consent to ensure these points are covered. Having said this, it is still acceptable to obtain verbal consent providing risks and limitations of virtual care are adequately explained. Please see the consent section of the Virtual Care Toolkit. We also provide a chart template tool in this section that provides a cue for verbal consent within the session if written consent has not been obtained.
This is an area that may require some further investigation and you may wish to contact your malpractice insurer on the implications of digital signatures on clinical records. CPTBC suggests that electronic signatures should be password protected to ensure only the physiotherapist/clinician can apply the signature. Ask yourself if the digital signature has some security limiting who can apply them. If not, consider the risk of unauthorized access to your signature. A time and date stamp enhance this security. For example, signatures contained in clinic management systems such as Jane or Clinicmaster can only be applied by the physiotherapist/clinician who is logged in and therefore would be more secure than a cut and pasted signature in a word document.
No. The initial telehealth consent implies it is not just for one visit. However, you should re-establish consent as often as it is necessary. For example, if the patiernt brings up concerns in regard to the delivery, a new injury has occurred, or if there has been a significant time since the last telehealth treatment.
Can I have the patient take a picture of their signature and the physiotherapist/clinician to insert it into the consent document?
The purpose of consent is understanding and agreement on behalf of the patient to the proposed activity or treatment. While we have recommended written consent in our guide, it is still possible to do obtain adequate verbal consent. For written consent, there should be a standard process by which a signature is obtained, and simply taking a picture and having the clinician insert it into the actual document seems fraught with potential legal risks. In this case, simply gaining verbal consent and documenting such seems more prudent. Please refer to the Consent section of the Virtual Care Toolkit for more on this.
