October, 2004
- Annual General Meeting (AGM)
- AGM Education Session: Drawing the line - Professional Boundaries in O.T. Practice
- COTBC Survey on Professional Boundaries In Practice
- Board Elections
- New privacy legislation now in force: Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA)
- Working in the USA - Visa Credential Verification Certificate Now Required
Annual General Meeting (AGM)
The College's fourth annual general meeting is scheduled from 11:20 - 12:30 on Saturday, November 6, 2004. It will be held at the Marriott Vancouver Airport Hotel, 7571 Westminster Highway, Richmond, BC. The AGM will again be held in conjunction with the meeting of the British Columbia Society of Occupational Therapists (BCSOT). The college is sponsoring an interactive seminar on professional boundaries before the annual meeting. See below for details. Although there is no cost to attend, please complete the AGM Registration Form and return to the college.
For more information on the AGM:
AGM Registration Form
AGM Agenda
BCSOT Professional Development Session
AGM Education Session: Drawing the line - Professional Boundaries in O.T. Practice
The Client Relations Committee will open this year's COTBC AGM with a two hour
interactive educational seminar. The committee looks forward to sharing their
work to date including a draft philosophy and the "professional boundaries" approach the Client Relations Committee is proposing for the prevention of misconduct of a sexual nature. (The Health Professions Act requires College's to establish guidelines for prevention of misconduct of sexual nature.)
Seminar participants will have, through small group work, the opportunity to discuss ethically challenging situations which could lead to misconduct of sexual nature between a therapist and a client.
Relevant scenarios will be solicited from seminar participants for inclusion in the committee's final "Guidelines" document.
Professional boundaries are relevant to all occupational therapists in BC and across all practice areas. This facilitated seminar will explore topics at the core of our everyday practice: What are professional boundaries? What constitutes a boundary violation? Who is responsible? How do we protect the public? How do we protect ourselves? We look forward to your attendance and to a thought provoking and stimulating morning seminar.
For more information:
Invitation & Information from the Chair, Client Relations Committee
COTBC Survey on Professional Boundaries In Practice
The Client Relations Committee (CRC) is asking for your input by way of an information survey. The survey will help the CRC obtain an initial measure of registrants' knowledge about misconduct issues so that we can realistically prepare for the forum in November (described above) and subsequently prepare guidelines that are grounded in and relevant to current practice environments. Please take the time to provide your feedback by completing the survey attached with this letter. You can download a copy and mail it back to the college or complete it online. If you are able to complete it before October 21, your information will assist in the planning the forum. If not, you have until November 30, 2004 to send in your survey.
To download a copy of the Survey on Professional Boundaries,
click here.
Click here to complete the survey online.
Board Elections
Board elections will be held from October 21, 2004 to November 24, 2004. Board election packages were mailed to all registrants on October 20th with the fall issue of the college's newsletter, the COTBC Update. The Board election package includes a short bio submitted from each candidate, a ballot and the voting instructions including the two envelopes required to seal your ballot before sending. Please ensure you follow all the instructions. Ballots not received in the form required or by the due date are not counted and are considered spoiled. Your ballot must be received in the college office by the due date of November 24, 2004 by 4:00 pm.
New privacy legislation now in force: Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA)
On January 1, 2004, new provincial privacy legislation, the Personal Information Protection Privacy Act (PIPA) came into force in British Columbia. PIPA applies to the entire BC private sector, both for-profit and not-for-profit. PIPA governs how organizations may collect, use and disclose the personal information of clients and employees. Registrants of COTBC already have a duty of protection of personal privacy (duty of confidentiality) and registrants will be familiar the principles of the new privacy legislation. However, this legislation will affect registrants working in private practice, working for not-for-profit organizations or other agencies not covered by public sector privacy legislation (FOIPPA). It sets out specific rules for the private sector. It is every registrant's responsibility to know and comply with legislation that applies to their practice. Registrants should visit the following websites for more details of your responsibilities under this new personal information privacy legislation or seek other advice to ensure your practice is in compliance. Tools and helpful resources have been developed to assist organizations becoming compliant with the new PIPA legislation and can be found on our COTBC website. Click here to go to our links on privacy information and resources.
Working in the USA - Visa Credential Verification Certificate Now Required
The National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) has asked that we inform individuals who are considering working in the USA that the rules have changed for those seeking temporary or permanent visas as well as those seeking NAFTA status. Regulations for new immigration legislation have been passed and went into effect July 25, 2004. Information on the changes and required forms can be obtained from the NBCOT website www.nbcot.org or by contacting international@nbcot.org or faxing a request to International Program (301) 869-8492.
|
