Professional practice

August 2018

Most Australian psychologists use self-monitoring forms with clients and find them useful for tracking client progress.The regular use of standardised self-assessment and progress monitoring forms has been associated with improved client treatment outcomes. Research suggests that clinical...

August 2018 | Jodi Clarke

This year marks an important shift in health communication and electronic record storage for Australians. By the end of this year, a My Health Record (MHR) will be created for every Australian unless they actively opt out of the scheme. In the near future, the MHR will impact all psychologists...

June 2018

The use of recording technology, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV), within clinical practice is a complex issue. Although there may be cases where recording a client session is desired for training or therapeutic purposes, there are many legal (and ethical) issues that need to be...

June 2018

The legal requirements of each state and territory determine when client psychology records can be destroyed or deleted. In general, for psychologists in private practice, records can be destroyed seven years after the last occasion on which a health service was provided to the individual; or if...

June 2018 | Dr Elizabeth Allworth FAPS

The Ethical Guidelines Committee recently undertook a revision of the Ethical Guidelines for Psychological Assessment and the Use of Psychological Tests. These Guidelines are relevant to all psychologists who use psychological assessment and testing in their practice, teaching or research. Their...

April 2018

To date there has been low usage of the group treatment items under Better Access. Given clients can receive up to 10 individual and 10 group sessions per calendar year, psychologists might consider group sessions as a mechanism to provide a greater ‘dosage’ of treatment to clients...

April 2018

Clients are sometimes not aware how many sessions they have had with providers under the same referral. It is therefore important to check with clients the number of sessions already used. Medicare provides an online checking system that allows practitioners to monitor and check the number of...

April 2018

Recent correspondence from the Department of Health has clarified that clients can change Medicare providers while under the same Medicare referral without seeking a new letter of referral from a medical practitioner (e.g., GP).Medicare Australia states that the Medicare legislation does not...

February 2018 | Mick Symons FAPS

Premium performanceFor just over 12 months the APS has offered both premium and standard listings on its online Find a Psychologist service (findapsychologist.org.au) which combined the previous Medicare Psychology Providers List data with the existing Find a Psychologist practitioners.The...