pa pandemic ndemic Andrew Charnock, Chief Executive & - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Pr Pract actising ising duri uring ng CO COVID VID-19 19 pa pandemic ndemic

Andrew Charnock, Chief Executive & Registrar Mary Silcock, Professional Advisor 30 March 2020

Content of presentation

• 1. Occupational therapy and providing essential healthcare
• 2. Legislative framework which applies under a situation of national

emergency

• 3. Advice from the OTBNZ perspective to help with ethical and clinical

decision making

• 4. OTBNZ operations during the management of Covid 19

Occupational therapy and providing essential healthcare

• 1. As registered health practitioners occupational therapists are expected to provide

and assist with delivering essential healthcare

• 2. OTBNZ has established a Special Purposes Scope of Practice – Responding to

COVID-19.

• 3. Ministry of Health is co-ordinating the use of health practitioners who currently

provide non-essential healthcare to support the health workforce to manage https://tinyurl.com/covid19nz

• 4. Employers can register to access healthcare workers if they need them
• 5. Ministry of Health Covid19 website provides information for use of personal protective

equipment (PPE)

Legislative framework for practice

• 1. Health Practitioner Competence Assurance Act (2003) has allowances for states of

emergency which are applied by the OTBNZ

• 2. Special Purposes Scope of Practice – Responding to COVID-19 has been established

by OTBNZ

• 3. Practice needs to still be grounded in our OTBNZ Competencies, Code of Ethics and

the Code of Rights

• 4. Application of other legislation such as the Health Information Privacy Code needs

to occur for new ways of working in current environment

• 5. OTBNZ has guidelines for use of social media and electronic communication & is

preparing a guideline of use of telehealth

Ethical and clinical considerations

• 1. Refer to Code of Ethics to guide decision making
• 2. We have ethical responsibilities to the people we work with as employers,

managers, colleagues, service providers and to our own whanau bubble

• 3. Inequities in healthcare will be exacerbated when resources are limited
• 4. The Competencies for Registration provide clear standards of practice which

expect equitable healthcare to be provided

• 5. Be mindful of who may be missing out on services and act on this

How OTBNZ will operate during lockdown

• 1. Prioritisation of any Ministry of Health workforce related work
• 2. Close collaboration with OTNZ-WNA & key occupational therapy leadership to

provide consistent profession wide support

• 3. Business as usual with all staff working from home. Daily updates will be provided

while necessary to keep the profession informed

• 4. ePortfolio auditing is being halted
• 5. Webinars will be planned when appropriate
• 6. Professional Advisor available for practitioners with individual practice issues

Useful Websites

• Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā – National Māori Pandemic Group https://www.uruta.maori.nz
• Ministry of Health https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-

novel-coronavirus

• ACC https://www.acc.co.nz/covid-19/providers/?smooth-scroll=content-after-navs
• NZ Telehealth https://www.telehealth.org.nz/
• Ministry of Health Personal Protective Equipment guidelines

https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel- coronavirus/covid-19-novel-coronavirus-information-specific-audiences/covid-19-personal- protective-equipment-essential-workers

• Occupational Therapy New Zealand-Whakaora Ngangahau Aotearoa (OTNZ-WNA)

https://www.otnz.co.nz/

General enquiries & technical support enquiries@otboard.org.nz 0800997755 Mary Silcock Professional Advisor mary@otboard.org.nz +64 4 918-4747 Toni Lancaster Manager Registrations & Audits toni@otboard.org.nz https://www.facebook.com/OTBNZ https://www.linkedin.com/company/otbnz/ Andrew Charnock Chief Executive/Registrar andrew@otboard.org.nz