Consent Flashcards
Summarize components of the first part of the session
- Introduce self +supervisor
- Explain how session will go
- Consent including…
- Explaining the services +Short term nature
- Confidentiality + limits
- Risks and benefits
- Voluntary nature of services
- Missed session policy
- email consent
Introduce self/supervisor
As he walks into the office: Hi, I’m Kim. As I mentioned on the phone I’m an advanced doctoral student in clinical psychology and I’m working under the supervision of a registered psychologist - Dr. Jamshidi
She will provide you with her contact information, you’re always welcome to reach out to her directly about your services
She will be joining us for the assessment sessions.
Any questions about that?
Explain how session will go
So for today’s session, we will start out by explaining the services and going through the consent process
If you consent to continue with services, we will move into the assessment. The purpose of this initial session is to get to know you a bit, get some background information, information about your current circumstances and difficulties, and then at the end I will ask some screening questions. Depending how much time we have left I might start with a structured interview
I know that you asked on the phone about your wife potentially joining you, I think that it would be really great to hear from her maybe in the next session? We can discuss that at the end.
Consent part 1: explaining the service
So as I mentioned on the phone, we will be starting out with an assessment to clarify your diagnosis, understand your difficulties and goals, and determine if this would be a good fit for psychotherapy.
If it is a good fit, we would move forward with individual cognitive behavioural therapy for 1 hour sessions x1 weekly. Sessions would be in person unless there is a reason that wouldn’t be possible, in which case we could do a remote session over Zoom.
The psychotherapy services offered at the Royal are short term. My practicum ends on March 1st, so we would be finishing our work before then. That being said we will plan for termination and determine what referrals or other services might be needed at that time.
Questions?
Consent part 2: Confidentiality
Everything you talk about in session will be kept between confidential. As a practicum student, my supervisor Dr. Jamshidi will get regular updates and provide feedback. we also work with a healthcare team that meets regularly to review client progress and ensure needs are met. Information may be shared with the healthcare team.
Consent part 3: Risks and benefits
For the assessment portion there are a couple of risks.
- sometimes people have an idea of what they think or want the outcome of the assessment to be, and the results don’t always line up with this which can be disappointing for some
- We will also ask sensitive questions which may cause some distress at times
Benefits
- Clarification of diagnosis
- Clear understanding of what’s going on, which helps us know how to best treat and support you
For intervention some risks are
- You will need to invest time and energy into treatment, and although we use evidence-based treatments, they are not guaranteed to give you the results you would ideally like to have
Benefit
- That there is a lot of evidence supporting the use of the interventions we are using and they could help to prevent relapse, improve wellbeing and quality of life
Consent part 4: voluntary
Before moving forward, I want to emphasize that these services are voluntary and you can refuse them or withdraw from services at any point. This will not affect other services you’re getting at the Royal.
With all that being said, do you have any questions? Do you agree to continue with the assessment?
Email consent
Before we get started with the assessments, I also wanted to go over information about consent to using emails.
A few points:
1. email is not safeguarded on the hospital email system and the hospital cannot guarantee the privacy or security of these messages.
2. We recommend using email mainly for scheduling purposes. If you do send an email with important information it will be copied into your electronic health record.
3. Please do not use email to communicate emergency or urgent information
4. If you have any questions there is a privacy officer at the royal whose contact info I can share with you.
Do you consent to use email communications?
What is the best email to reach your at currently?
Consent part 2.5 : Confidentiality Limits
There are certain limits to confidentiality that I want to make you aware of before we start. You may have heard these already, but I will go through them briefly.
1. If I have reasonably grounds to believe that a client is at risk of harming themsleves or someone else. In that situation I would (a) assess wether there is a clear risk or a person or group of people (b) whether there is a risk of serious bodily harm or death, and (c) the urgency of the threat
2. If I have reaosnable grounds to believe that a child under the age of 16 is being abused, either physically, emotionally, sexually, or through neglect.
3. If I have resonable grounds to believe that a resident in long term care or retirement home is being mistreated, neglected, or abused, including the misuse of funds.
4. If I become aware of sexual abuse by a healthcare professional
5. If I get a court order, warrant, or subpoena
5. Quality assurance by the College of Psychologists of Ontario
- Quality assurance: Finally, information collected about you (background information, pre and post treatment questionnaires) might be used to evaluate services, in this care your name would be disclosed in any reports related to the evaluations.
Consent part 5: Missed session policy
It is important to get an adequate dose of therapy by coming to appointments regularly
If you miss 2 or more sessions without calling to cancel treatment will be discontinued
If you miss 3 sessions, with or without calling, I will assess whether this treatment at this time is the best option for you.
