Standard 3.3: Communicating Client Care

Registered Psychotherapists are expected to create and sustain positive working relationships with other professionals encountered in practice. Clients are entitled to have their care coordinated by their health care providers when it is necessary and appropriate to do so and when the client explicitly authorizes such collaboration. In addition, regulatory colleges are required under the RHPA to take steps to enhance interprofessional collaboration.

Appropriate communication is a key component of successful interprofessional collaboration and may help reduce conflicting or inconsistent information or advice given to clients. Appropriate communication between providers contributes to enhanced safety for clients and better professional relationships.

In general, registrants can expect to communicate with other professionals providing care to a client, when the client has provided consent to do so. This may include those who provide care to the same client, other healthcare providers within a multidisciplinary setting, and other healthcare providers where the client is referred by the registrant.

Good communication can be achieved in a number of ways, including written communication between health care providers, conference calls, team meetings, meetings requested by the client and family meetings. Such communication shall be documented in the clinical record.

Registrants shall make reasonable efforts to communicate with other providers when the client consents to such communications and it is likely to have a positive effect therapeutically. A registrant cannot be held responsible, however, when another professional refuses to communicate or does not respond to the registrant’s reasonable efforts to communicate about a client’s care.

It is important to understand that the client controls collaboration and communication in specific circumstances. If a client is uncomfortable with any aspect of this communication, they may direct the registrant not to share the information. Registrants should explain to clients the potential benefits of interprofessional collaboration, as well as the implications of not permitting the therapist to share information with other providers.

For more information about confidentiality as it applies to releasing information to other healthcare providers, see Standard 3.1 Confidentiality.

There are circumstances where obtaining prior consent to share information with other professionals is not possible. Such cases may include, for example, when a client is admitted to hospital. Disclosure may be reasonably necessary for the provision of health care, and it may not be possible to obtain the individual’s consent in a timely manner. In these cases, the registrant is permitted to disclose necessary information, as long as the client has not prohibited them from doing so.