Legislations Influencing Occupational Therapists - Coursework Example

Legislations Influencing Occupational Therapists Introduction Occupational therapists (OTs) are health professionals who actively engage in interactive activities with individuals who face difficulties in their careers or life due to accident, illness, ageing or lifestyle. The purpose is to promote, regain or maintain the health and wellbeing of clients, to enable them to do their jobs effectively. OTs engage in assessment of patients’ physical, mental and social wellbeing, by devising treatment programmes to improve their ability to do their jobs independently. The treatment programmes are often custom-made and tailored to the individual needs of the clients and reflect their situations. Periodic reviews are carried out to evaluate clients’ progress, and if need be, modify treatments to meet their needs (Powell 2008). OTs come into contact with a diverse range of clients with different needs and lifestyle. Apart from dealing with clients, OTs also actively interact with institutions like hospitals, clinics or healthcare organizations to work in conjunction with other healthcare providers like doctors, physiotherapists, social workers, carers, suppliers and employers. They are responsible for keeping patient records, attending meetings to plan and review ongoing treatments with peers and carers, and/or organising support groups for clients and carers, as well as training, supervising and managing OT administrative work (Powell 2008). The multidimensional aspects of OTs’ jobs are governed by legislations which greatly influence the professional scope of OT practices. First and foremost OTs are required to register with the Health Professions Council (HPC), and follow the HPC's Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics produced by the British Association of Occupational Therapists. This is the central organization which governs the practice, conduct and legislation of OTs. Secondly, OTs are required to follow these standards religiously or become liable to the law some of which are discussed as follows: Legislations Which Influence Occupational Therapists - Health and safety legislation At the core of the occupational therapy is the expectation of providing health care services within the legal and ethical boundaries of the OT profession under the Health and Social Care Act 2003. These may include decisions pertaining to the interests of the clients, appropriate assessments of their condition, observations to gather information about the functional abilities of the client, as well as determination of their physical, psychological, cultural and environmental fit of the client, their families and carers. These mandates mean that occupational therapists have to formulate formal processes to address these preconditions for analyzing the health and wellbeing of their clients (HPC 2006). Moreover, the HPC (2006) also mandates that OTs should be able to select and use standardized and non-standardized assessment tools to identify the need for therapy for their clients in conjunction with the Human Rights Act 1998 (Dimond 2004). This legislation acts as a limitation factor for professionals who exploit clients on the pretext of performance needs. The basic premise is to protect the interests of the client from exploiters, and ensure that they are in the hands of ethical health and social carer. Furthermore, the HPC standards for proficiency through the Human Rights Act 1998 and statutes relating to rights to health and social care such as the NHS and Community Act 1990, National Health Service Act 1977 and Health Service and Public Health Act 1968, put at its core the importance of the health and social care needs of the patient (Dimond 2004). Registered OTs are required to use their skills to gather information, assess and formulate delivery plans for meeting health and social care needs. To achieve this purpose a host of skill sets are required for OT to be proficient in. Unless, they have been extensively trained, OT would not be able to carry out their practice. Skills such as using evidence-based practice to audit procedures, critical evaluation practice for research and information gathering, logic for systematic approach to problem solving, and the ability to draw from knowledge and skills to make professional judgements. These aspects, according to HPC make OT a science and a specialised occupation. Thus if an OT is treating a client requiring rehabilitation then it is required that the OT audits the rehabilitation programme, research its environment, and assess it in terms of the patient's needs before making decision whether or not to send him/her to rehabilitation institution. The decision making process is based on skilled assessment as well as knowledge from research. This double assurance serves the main occupational goals of the HPC which is to ensure the health and safety of the patient. While the standards set by HPC ensure the health and safety of clients, it sometimes hinders the efficiency of OTs as well. When OTs are working in hospitals or institutions they are already restricted by the local regulations which govern the institutions. On top of it, when they are required to consider the limitations set by the HPC, the scope of their profession in exploring new practices or health care experiments which ultimately may prove useful for the patients become limited. - Data protection legislation Throughout the legislations pertaining to OT, the issue of confidentiality have been emphasized to a great extent. According to the Data Protection Act 1998 and Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Dimond 2004). This is because in essence therapy is an occupation which requires patients to take the OT into confidence and divulge personal and professional information that affect their condition. At all cost "You must respect the confidentiality of service users" and "You must keep accurate records" are two of the standards prescribed by the HPC as duties of the registered OT (HPC 2007). With regard to the first, OTs are responsible for the safeguard of information that clients provide them for the purpose of therapeutic pursuits. The CoT (2005) outlines that OTs are ethically and legally obliged to respect the value of clients’ information. There is no justification for divulging information unless it is considered to be harmful to the interests of the community and to save them from serious injury or damage. This is stated in the Mental Health Act 1983 (Dimond 2004). This legislative limits the intrusion of third party (including the police, lawyers, media or relatives) access to confidential information given to the OT during diagnosis, treatment or prognosis. This mandate gives the OT power over third parties access to client information but it also adds on the responsibility of safeguarding the same. This leads the researcher to the second mandate of keeping accurate records. It is the responsibility of the OT to secure, store and safeguard records which document confidential personal information. This should be in accordance with the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations Act 1992. Record keeping systems whether electronic or otherwise should be secure to ensure the safe storage of information during its transfer including faxes, emails and posts, and under the supervision of OTs. The access of the record is limited to the OT only and should be used in conjunction with the treatment of the client according to the CoT (2005). In cases of dire emergency, the oral, visual or written record of the client may be divulged with the consent of the client. But before that the client needs to provide clearly recorded consent to their notes and information. Refusal of consent means the information provided should be withdrawn. This mandate is established congruent with the local policy for OT. The purpose is to align the OT with local administration but not at the compromise of clients’ confidence in the OT. The inclusion of local policy legitimizes the process of record keeping, and serves to provide professional intervention when need be. Thus, the OT is responsible for the clients’ records as well as for its safeguard to protect their clients' interests. These legislations add the responsibility of data protection onto the OT but at the same time add trusts within the OT profession as well. OT clients are sensitive in nature. This legislation adds trust to the professional dimension which is a necessary element for making OT successful in their work and career (CoT 2005). - Equality and diversity legislation Another dimension of legislation is the theoretical framework for equality that underpins the professional practice of OT. OTs are obliged under ethical and legal mandates to recognize the importance of OT to society, and its components. In the Equality Act 2006 the law mandate practitioners to integrate equality and diversity under employment code of practice. Meaning, OTs need to understand that members of society may be dysfunctional because of their socio-economic or cultural situations which influence the way they live or work. Individuals with social disabilities need specialists to empower them towards autonomy to restore opportunities which exist for them. It is the duty of the OTs to serve the members of the community regardless of their condition of poverty, exclusion, identity, social difference or diversity in occupational performance (HPC 2007). Moreover, the HPC (2007) mandates that OTs "recognize the value of the diversity and complexity of human behaviour through the exploration of different physical, psychological, environmental, social, emotional and spiritual perspectives". This means that OTs must be aware of the environment in which they practices as well as those of the clients, in order to understand the core problems they face. Especially in a diverse society such as the UK consideration for ethnicity and legislation of the same are important for carrying out OT practices (HPC 2007). What this implies for the OT is to become aware of clients' background as well as the practitioners' dimension for treating them. Unlike other professions, OTs are influenced by the diversity and ethnicity of the clients as these are among clues to their dysfunctional status. Furthermore, to prevent OTs from biases towards clients, they are mandated to adopt equitable approaches to practices in terms of selecting, modifying or meeting individual, group or community needs of the clients. For example risks of infection of other diseases should be dealt with fairly and safely. Rules of confidence should also extend to the risk of infections such as STDs, or AIDS in order to treat clients fairly (HPC 2006). Moreover, there should be no distinction between clients. The honesty and integrity of the OT practice is inherent in their fair behaviour towards the public, and act in the strictest confidence. OTs qualifications as medical practitioners make them responsible for the physical and mental wellbeing of individuals regardless of clients’ background. More importantly, OTs must recognize their limitations in occupation, knowledge, skills and experience in certain circumstances. They need to refer to other professionals when the need arises to meet therapy needs of the clients. For example differences in communication language mandates that the OT refers to a translator to gather information about the client, and treating him/her through the translator if need be. Similarly, if the mental status of a client is influenced by AIDS, a pathologist should be referred to with the consent of the client. These professional decisions should be based on fair and honest judgements. Conclusion From the above discussion, one understands that legislations play great roles in determining the framework for practice for OTs. The standards for conduct, the legislation for practice and the proficiency requirements all legitimize OT practices but at times prove limiting to their profession. While policymakers have devised these legislation to serve the interest of the public, and to ensure that OTs work within the dimension of their profession in a fair and equitable manner, they tend to limit the scope of OT in observing their practice decorum more than allow them to explore alternatives to occupational therapy. Nevertheless, OT regulations are mandatory and should not be disregarded. Elements of record keeping and data protection, equitable and fair treatment, consideration for diversity, and issues of confidentially are addressed with the view to protect the interests of the clients as well as indemnify the OT from legal suits. In fact the researcher is of the view that the standards codes, legislation and ethics mentioned in these documents are limited in addressing the vast dimension of OT. In reality, occupational therapy is applicable in many fields, occupation and genre for which reason some of the aspects of the legislations above may not be applicable and prove to be a hindrance. For example the use of information systems for record keeping is the responsibility of the OT but it is no fault of the OT if the system is "cracked" by intruders who gain unauthorized access to patient records. Thus exceptions to situations usually occur in real life which are outside the scope of the code of conduct and regulations mentioned above. One of the reasons perhaps why these codes are broad is because it aims to include a wide audience, and address wider OT needs. Regardless of these aspects, OT regulations are present in the UK's health industry, and govern the OTs delineating their conduct, behaviour, responsibility, and duties to their clients. References College of Occupational Therapists (2005) College of Occupational Therapists Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. London: College of Occupational Therapists. Dimond, B. (2004) Legal Aspects of Occupational Therapy. Blackwell Publishing. HPC (2007) Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics: Your duties as a Registrant. Health Professions Council HPC (2006) Standards of Proficiency: Occupational Therapists. Health Professions Council Powell, M. (2008) Occupational Profile: Occupational Therapist. AGCAS [Online Available]: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/downloads/occprofiles/profile_pdfs/C3_Occupational_therapist.pdf Read More