Physiotherapy: Reflection on Ethical Practice and Informed Consent

This reflection essay delves into the critical role of informed consent in physiotherapy practice, drawing upon the Code of Conduct under the Physiotherapy Board of Australia and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy guidelines. It highlights the importance of obtaining voluntary consent from clients based on their understanding of healthcare benefits and risks, while also emphasizing the need for physiotherapists to provide clear and adequate information about the planned assessment, diagnosis, interventions, risks, and expected benefits. The essay further discusses the significance of building a therapeutic relationship with clients through informed consent, fostering rapport, and establishing trust. It also addresses the importance of maintaining professional boundaries and managing power imbalances inherent in the client-therapist relationship, ensuring that the client's needs and preferences are at the forefront of professional practice. The reflection underscores the impact of informed consent on the scope of practice in physiotherapy, emphasizing shared decision-making and adherence to ethical principles.

Running head: REFLECTION ESSAY
Reflection essay
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1REFLECTION ESSAY
According to the Code of Conduct under the Physiotherapy Board of Australia, an
individual gives informed consent to demonstrate his or her voluntary decision in accordance to
understanding and knowledge of healthcare benefits and risks (physiotherapyboard.gov.au,
2018). According to Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, during informed consent,
physiotherapists should share information with clients to know about their wishes, needs,
preferences and nature of condition (Hammond, Cross & Moore, 2016). As a physiotherapist, I
need to conduct good practice as obtaining informed consent before undertaking any
investigation or examination.
For obtaining informed consent, I will not try to influence my decision on my clients
and allow them to take their own decisions about participation in the physiotherapy session.
Within my scope for practice, I have to provide intelligible and adequate information about the
physical therapy session to my clients providing clear explanation of important parameters. The
planned assessment or examination, diagnosis, evaluation and prognosis, interventions, risks,
expected benefits, anticipated time period, costs and any alternatives (Galeoto et al., 2015). Most
importantly, I have to ascertain that whether my client has the ability to understand the above
parameters in seeking consent as in case of aged care. In addition, I also need to record in my
documentation confirming that informed consent is taken. While taking consent, it is my
responsibility to comply with the codes of conduct, professional standards and ethical principles
in physiotherapy.
After the procedure, I learned that informed consent is crucial and as a physiotherapist, I
need to be aware of it before undertaking any session that greatly affects my practice. I
understand that in my profession, I need to engage directly with patients and through informed
consent; I will be able to construct a therapeutic relationship with my client aiming to build

2REFLECTION ESSAY
rapport and trust. Moreover, I also learned that informed consent acts as a communication
medium that nudge patients into consenting for evaluation, assessments and treatments. Informed
consent is a crucial component at the professional level and educational programs in physical
therapy (Cameron et al., 2013).
The activity of informed consent greatly influenced my scope of practice in
physiotherapy. Although, client autonomy is important in a physiotherapy session, a shared
decision-making is embedded in a client-therapist relationship. This helps to build rapport and
trust and impose legal and ethical obligations in physiotherapy practice (Josephson et al., 2015).
Apart from therapeutic relationship, there should also be acknowledgement of
maintaining professional boundaries with clients. I understood that I have to maintain a
therapeutic relationship with my client and imbalance of power inherent in the client-therapist
relationship. This can be explained in manner that as a physiotherapist, there is an existence of
element of risk in having both personal as well as therapeutic relationship with client
simultaneously. In such cases, there is inherent power imbalance and difficulty in maintaining
therapeutic relationship. The components of therapeutic relationship place the needs and
preferences of clients at the foremost within the core of professional practice. In this relationship,
professional needs to consider and manage boundaries of power, respect, trust and closeness with
clients (physiotherapyboard.gov.au, 2018).

3REFLECTION ESSAY
References
Cameron, I. D., Fairhall, N., Langron, C., Lockwood, K., Monaghan, N., Aggar, C., ... & Kurrle,
S. E. (2013). A multifactorial interdisciplinary intervention reduces frailty in older
people: randomized trial. BMC medicine, 11(1), 65.
Galeoto, G., Mollica, R., Astorino, O., & Cecchi, R. (2015). Informed consent in physiotherapy:
proposal of a form. Giornale italiano di Medicina del Lavoro ed Ergonomia, 37(4), 245-
254.
Hammond, R., Cross, V., & Moore, A. (2016). The construction of professional identity by
physiotherapists: a qualitative study. Physiotherapy, 102(1), 71-77.
Josephson, I., Woodward-Kron, R., Delany, C., & Hiller, A. (2015). Evaluative language in
physiotherapy practice: How does it contribute to the therapeutic relationship?. Social
Science & Medicine, 143, 128-136.
physiotherapyboard.gov.au. (2018). Physiotherapy Board of Australia - Code of
conduct. Physiotherapyboard.gov.au. Retrieved 13 February 2018, from
http://www.physiotherapyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines/Code-of-conduct.aspx