Ch 25 - 27 Flashcards
Importance of Accurate Evaluations
- benefits the client by accurately identifying
strengths and limitations
Tailoring Assessment Tools
Customization: Tools must be tailored to the needs and abilities of each
client for valid outcomes.
Challenge of Obsolescence: Discuss the issue with outdated tools not accurately reflecting current client demographics or conditions
Legal and Ethical Considerations
Copyright Law Compliance: It is both an ethical and legal responsibility to use licensed versions of assessment tools
Risk of Using Outdated Tools: Using obsolete assessments can lead to ineffective interventions.
Criteria for Selecting Assessment
Tools
Accuracy and Relevance: Select tools that reflect the client’s current
context accurately.
Examples of Assessment Flaws: Discuss specific errors like misadministration or outdated normative data that lead to inaccurate
evaluations
Ensuring Ethical Practice
Guidelines for Practice: Professionals must evaluate the utility of tests, administer them properly, and interpret results accurately
Code of Ethics: Relate the ethical use of assessments to the AOTA Code of Ethics focusing on professional integrity and accountability
The Impact of Test Revisions
Necessity for Updates: Discuss the need for periodic reviews and revisions based on new research and changes in the domain
Example of Test Revision Impact: Explain how test content or language
updates affect validity
Practical Tips for Practitioners
Recalibrating Tools: Emphasize the need to replace or recalibrate tools
like dynamometers and pinch gauges periodically.
Adapting to Societal Changes: Highlight how societal changes
necessitate re-norming of tools, like visual perception tests now including adult norms
Selecting Current and Relevant Tools
Developmental Assessments: Discuss how changes in developmental milestones require updates to assessment tools.
Cultural and Conceptual Relevance: Choose tools that reflect current lifestyles, such as replacing outdated items like rotary phones in assessments
Introduction to Informed Consent
Definition: Informed consent is the fundamental right of every client and research participant
Legal and Ethical Imperatives
Mandatory Practice: Health care law mandates that practitioners obtain
informed consent before any client interaction
Components of Informed Consent:
Disclosure: Explanation of the service delivery details.
Consent: Gaining agreement from the client for participation
Ensuring Voluntary Participation
Voluntary Consent: Essential for legal and ethical compliance.
Must be obtained from the client or a legal representative for those unable to consent themselves
Client Understanding: Clients must fully understand the risks, benefits, alternatives to the intervention, and evidence supporting or refuting the
intervention
Communicating for Clear Consent
Barriers to Communication: Practitioners must address any barriers to ensure that the client understands the information provided.
Shared Decision-Making: Ensures that clients are actively involved in deciding to accept or refuse care, enhancing their autonomy and respect for their decisions
Practical Application in Clinical
Settings
Verbal Assent: Often, practitioners in clinical settings do not use a form
but seek verbal assent following an explanation of the planned activities
Documentation Requirements: Document how information was provided
and how consent was indicated by the client
Informed Consent in Research
IRB Oversight: All research involving human subjects must be reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) to ensure ethical standards are met
Informed Consent Document (ICD): Must detail the study’s risks and benefits, provide contact information for questions, and reaffirm the
participant’s right to withdraw at any time.
AOTA Code of Ethics and Informed Consent
AOTA Core Values: Freedom, justice, dignity, and truth.
Autonomy and nonmaleficence are emphasized, ensuring clients are not harmed and are free to make their own decisions.
Principle of Justice and Veracity: Practitioners follow laws and are truthful in their interactions with clients
Additional Legal Considerations
HIPAA Compliance: Requires written client consent before disclosing protected health information
Safety Protocols: ‘Red rules’ ensure the correct client receives the intended services by using two forms of identification
Enhancing Informed Consent with AIDET
AIDET Strategy: Helps in remembering to ask for verbal informed consent
effectively.
Announce: Identify the client and yourself.
Introduce: Your role and the session plan.
Duration: How long the session will last.
Explanation: What will happen during the session and why.
Thank: Express gratitude at the end of the session
Overview of Occupational Therapy Licensure
Purpose of Licensure: Ensures public safety and professional integrity by verifying qualifications of practitioners.
Scope: Required across all states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico (AOTA, n.d.).
Administered by: State Regulatory Boards (SRBs)
Why Licensure Matters
Public Safety: Protects the public by ensuring qualified practitioners.
Professional Integrity: Maintains standards within the occupational therapy profession
Legal Authority: Provides legal permission to practice within a state or territory
State Practice Acts
Definition: Legal documents outlining the regulations and requirements for
practicing occupational therapy in each state.
Key Components:
Licensure terms
Service documentation
Billing regulations
Scope of practice
Supervision requirements
Continuing education needs
Ethical conduct standards
Ethical and Legal Consequences
Consequences of Non-compliance:
Unlawful practice leading to legal prosecution.
Disciplinary actions including loss of licensure.
Ethical violations against the AOTA Code of Ethics
Importance of Compliance: Misunderstanding or lack of awareness does not mitigate legal responsibility or penalties
Licensure Maintenance
Practitioner Responsibilities:
Stay informed of licensure status.
Promptly update SRB with changes in personal information.
Renew licensure according to state-specific schedules.
Notify employer of any changes in licensure status or requirements
Multistate Practice and the OT
Compact
State-Specific Regulations: Practitioners must understand and comply with the licensure requirements for each state they practice in.
OT Compact: Facilitates the ability to practice across multiple states that are members of the compact
Benefits of OT Compact: Eases the provision of services across state lines under a compact privilege, reducing the need for multiple state licenses
Continuing Education and
Competence
Requirements Vary by State:
Types of qualifying activities.
Number of hours or points needed.
Frequency of certification
Specific mandates on ethics or other topics.
Ethical Obligation: Truthful reporting of participation in continuing education and ability to provide evidence of competence
