The College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario
Newsletter | August 2022
In this issue…

  • COVID-19 Updates
  • Standards for Practice Update
  • Changes to Quality Assurance Dates
  • Provisional Registration: Updated Information and FAQ
  • PREP Reminder
  • Practice Q&As: School-based services
  • Enhance Your Practice: Consent
  • August Poll and June Poll Results
Important News
Updates and Opportunities
COVID-19 Updates
Information on MOH guidance, masking, screening, IPAC, and boosters
On June 11, 2022, the Chief Medical Officer of Health revoked the remaining Directives concerning measures to manage the transmission of COVID-19. As a result, masking and active screening requirements were lifted in most public settings.


Workplaces have the discretion to keep measures in place. See:

Occupational therapists should continue to monitor and follow the guidance put forth by the Ministry of Health, local public health units, and any organizational or workplace policies.

Occupational therapists are also expected to follow COTO’s Standards for Infection Prevention and Control, 2019.

Note: Masks and screening are still required in long-term care and retirement homes.

Please contact the Practice Resource Service with any questions.

Eligible individuals can book an appointment through the COVID-19 vaccination portal or by calling the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre: 1-833-943-3900. 

You can also book an appointment directly through public health units that use their own booking systems, through Indigenous-led vaccination clinics and participating pharmacies.
Standards for Practice Update
Thank you to everyone who took the time to provide the College with feedback for our consultation about the revised Standards for Practice. The consultation has now closed.
 
College Standards define the expectation for the performance of occupational therapy services. The goal of this project is to ensure the Standards reflect current needs in occupational therapy practice and regulatory expectations. We are grateful for the feedback we have received from registrants, users of occupational therapy services, professional associations, and others.
 
Overall, the updates have been well-received. We are currently analyzing the results to inform final revisions to the Standards. The updated Standards will then be presented to the Board of Directors for approval.
 
Existing Standards remain in effect until the new Standards for Practice are officially approved and released for implementation.
 
We will continue to provide updates as the Standards evolve. Please contact the Practice Resource Service with any questions.
Change to QA Dates
Self-Assessment (SA) and Professional Development Plan (PDP)
The Self-Assessment and Professional Development Plan will be not be released until 2023. Due dates will be adjusted accordingly.

Materials are being updated to reflect the new Competencies for Occupational Therapists in Canada, 2021 that come into effect November 2022.

We will provide updates as we move closer to the release date.
Provisional Registration
Updated information and FAQ
With new graduates applying for jobs, you may be asked to supervise a provisional occupational therapist.

What is a provisional occupational therapist?

Provisional occupational therapists are registrants who are waiting to write the National Occupational Therapy Certificate Examination (NOTCE). They can practice occupational therapy under the supervision of a general occupational therapist who has been approved by the College. 

What level of supervision is required?

  • The Provisional Registration Supervision Agreement formalizes the supervision arrangement and outlines the accountabilities and expectations of the supervising occupational therapist.

  • The Provisional Registration Supervision Plan outlines the supervision activities required by the College.

Please visit the Provisional Registration section our website to review updated information and FAQ on the NOTCE process and information for supervisions.

If you have questions, please contact registration@coto.org. 
Mark Your Calendar
Upcoming Events and Dates to Remember
PREP Available
The eLearning module is now available in French and English
In case you missed it: this year’s PREP, the national eLearning module on the Competencies for Occupational Therapists in Canada is now available in both French and English.

OTs can log in to MyQA to access the module in your language of choice.

Reminder: the deadline to complete the 2022 PREP is October 31, 2022.
You and Your Practice
Cases & Resources
Practice Q&A
School-based occupational therapy services
Occupational therapists (OTs) working in schools may be delivering service under different models of care depending on factors such as employer, location, and funding source. The College often receives questions from OTs working under various delivery models. One of these is the tiered service delivery model.

To help support OTs working in a tiered model, we have answered some frequently asked questions.

Question #1:  If consent was already obtained to provide occupational therapy service at tier 1, is additional consent required from a parent/guardian to provide targeted service at tier 2? 

Question #2: I attend multidisciplinary school team meetings where children whom I have not obtained consent from are being discussed.

Do I need parent/guardian consent to participate in this discussion?
Enhance Your Practice
Informed and Knowledgeable Consent
The competency assessment process gives occupational therapists and the College valuable insights about areas for growth and improvement in the profession.

Based on the results of these assessments, we have noticed that some registrants do not always include all required elements of informed and knowledgeable consent in their consent conversations with clients and their documentation.

Did you know?

Reminder: The Consent Checklist is a tool. Knowledgeable and informed consent is the result of a dialogue between the occupational therapist and the client. A checklist or checkbox consent form is not a substitute for dialogue. The tool can be used to augment an accessible, individualized consent conversation with the client.
Have Your Say
Share Your Feedback and Get Involved
August Poll & June Poll Results
OTs, did you know you are not required to maintain paper copies of old College documents?
Yes, I knew that.
No, thanks for letting me know.
I thought I needed to keep my binder of Standards. Thanks for the update.
There is no requirement to file or retain copies of old materials. OTs used to maintain binders of College Standards, the Code of Ethics, annual reports and publications.

Today you can easily access the latest version of Standards and resources on our website!
In June we asked you: How do you like to do the e-learning module?

We received 240 responses! Here are your responses:

68.3% said "On my own." (162 votes)

25.8% said "Together with OTs in my workplace." (62 votes)

and 5.8% said "Together with OTs outside of my workplace." (14 votes)

Thank you for participating in our poll!
Reminder: the deadline to complete the 2022 PREP is October 31, 2022!
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20 Bay Street, Suite 900, Toronto, ON · 416.214.1177 1.800.890.6570 · www.coto.org · info@coto.org