Using the Decision Making Tool When Assigning Tasks to Unregulated Support Personnel

The Decision Making Tool is an integral part of the college’s practice guidelines. The tool is designed to facilitate the critical thinking necessary to make a decision regarding whether you have taken enough precautions to prevent harm to a client in a given situation.

How to Use the Tool
Feedback regarding the college’s guideline Assigning of Service Components to Unregulated Support Personnel indicated that examples from various practice contexts may help registrants understand how to use the tool when deciding whether to assign a task or not.

These scenarios were developed by the Standards Committee and reviewed by occupational therapists to ensure the descriptions were accurate and the decisions realistic. As every client is unique, every situation requiring assigning tasks is equally unique and requires careful consideration. These scenarios are intended as examples only and do not contain all the information that you might consider in a real life example. They are intended to support, not replace, the exercise of professional judgment by occupational therapists in particular situations.

The committee recommends that you work through these in a group with other therapists where you can debate and clarify the risk factors, classification and management. Feel free to use a ‘what if’ approach and adapt the scenarios to see if your decisions and management regarding assignment change.

The scenarios are posted in order of complexity, with #1 as the least complex and #5 as the most. The Standards Committee suggests that you review them in the order posted.

1. Long Term Care (PDF)
2. Acute Rehab – Stroke Unit (PDF)
3. School-based Practice (PDF)
4. Inpatient Mental Health (PDF)
5. Acquired Brain Injury – Community-Based Private Practice (PDF)

To assist us in evaluating the usefulness of these scenarios, please take a few minutes to complete our feedback survey.