This webinar is provided in partnership with the SCPT, in support of registrants’ CCP requirements for the Professionalism Mandatory Domain for the 2027–2028 renewal period.
This 90-minute webinar explores ethical challenges commonly encountered in physiotherapy practice, with a focus on real-world decision-making in Saskatchewan. Participants will review foundational ethical principles and professional obligations, then apply these concepts through facilitated case discussions and clinical vignettes.
Through clinical vignettes, participants will examine complex situations involving professional boundaries, consent, resource allocation, interprofessional tensions, and patient-centered care. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on their own approaches, consider multiple perspectives, and strengthen their ethical reasoning skills in a supportive environment.
This session is designed to be practical, reflective, and relevant to everyday physiotherapy practice across diverse settings.
Objectives
By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:
- Identify key ethical principles relevant to physiotherapy practice (e.g., autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice).
- Apply ethical decision-making frameworks to complex clinical scenarios.
- Analyze common ethical dilemmas encountered in Saskatchewan physiotherapy settings.
- Evaluate competing priorities (e.g., patient preferences, system constraints, professional standards).
- Demonstrate strategies for managing ethical uncertainty and moral distress in clinical practice.
- Reflect on personal values and how they influence clinical decision-making.
Meet the Speaker: Mary Heilman
Dr. Mary Heilman is the ethicist for St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon and the Catholic Health Association of Saskatchewan. She received her Ph.D. from the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan in 2016. Her research built on her experience as a spiritual care provider and investigated the role of conscience in healthcare. Mary first became interested in bioethics through her love of science fiction, and lives in Saskatoon with her husband and their two young children.