Making Patient Consent Simple, Visible, and Useful for the Whole Team

The Challenge

Consent is one of those things that seems simple in theory, but in day-to-day practice it often turns into clutter. The CPSO's recent guidance on documenting consent — especially for tools like AI Scribes — has left many physicians wondering: Do we need written consent every time? Is verbal enough? What about posting a notice at reception?

Meanwhile, our staff were dealing with the same questions over and over:

• Does this family consent to AI Scribe?
• Can we email them? Can we text them?
• What if a parent asks to attend without their child — is that okay?
• Is this family approved for a virtual visit?

All of this information lived in different places, and often meant staff had to interrupt the physician mid-day for clarification.

Our Approach

Instead of posters and ad-hoc verbal consents, we built consent into our digital workflow. The goal: keep the clinic team in sync, reduce interruptions, and improve the patient experience.

We did this with three key pieces:

1. Ocean Questionnaires

We use Ocean to send patients an email (or provide an in-clinic tablet) with three consent categories:

• AI Scribe (e.g. Scribeberry)
• Email Consent
• SMS Consent

Once completed, Ocean automatically updates the patient's chart in Telus PS — keeping consents current without chasing families at every visit. Patients who decline are flagged, so there's no ambiguity.

2. A Custom Physician Toolbar

We built a custom toolbar inside PS that gives physicians and staff a quick-glance view. It includes:

• Consent Status (color-coded green/red for granted/declined)
• Superbill Shortcuts (A263, A263 + E078, plus a lookup for the last billed codes)
• Front Staff Guidance: follow-up needed (yes/no), appointment length (15, 30, 45, 60 minutes), timing (1m, 2m, 6m, 1y), parent-alone OK, and virtual OK.

This reduces back-and-forth questions to almost zero, because the answers are visible in one spot.

3. Empowering the Front Line

The real win isn't just compliance — it's empowerment. By surfacing the information staff need most (without them asking the physician every time), we've:

• Reduced interruptions during clinic hours
• Made scheduling faster and more accurate
• Given families clear answers without delay
• Ensured compliance with CPSO expectations

The Bigger Picture

Consent shouldn't feel like a burden or just another checkbox. With the right workflow, it can actually streamline operations and improve communication across the whole team.

By combining Ocean, Telus PS, and a custom toolbar, we've turned consent into something practical: a tool that helps doctors, staff, and patients all at once.