GUIDELINE: TREATING EMPLOYEES

This guideline is intended to guide physicians in Saskatchewan when their employees or co-workers seek medical treatment from them.

The Code of Ethics addresses self-treatment and treatment of immediate family members.

20. Limit treatment of yourself or members of your immediate family to minor or emergency services and only when another physician is not readily available; there should be no fee for such treatment.

The Code of Ethics does not directly address treatment of employees or coworkers.

1.1 The College recommends that physicians deal with employees and co-workers in a similar fashion to the way that they deal with immediate family members.

1.2 The provision in the Code of Ethics is grounded in the need for patients to be able to access medical care from a physician, confident that they can provide information to that physician without concern that the information will be used for any purpose other than to provide medical care to them. It is grounded in the need for patients to receive care from a physician who does not have a personal relationship with them which may affect that physician’s judgment.

1.3 Employees and co-workers should establish a relationship with a family physician, who is not their employer or co-worker, who will take responsibility for their care. That gives them ready access to objective advice and avoids the conflicts of interest that can arise when doctors treat individuals close to them.  This is a matter of common sense and good medical practice.

2.1 Physicians should not provide medical treatment, including prescribing medications, for employees or co-workers except as permitted in this guideline.

2.2 In emergency situations e.g. when on-call or when obtaining a medicine is urgently required and it cannot be practically obtained in other ways, physicians may provide medical treatment to employees or co-workers.

2.3 When no other physician is readily available, a physician may provide treatment to an employee or co-worker for a minor condition. Examples of prescribing for emergency or minor conditions includes:

• Short courses of antibiotics
• Painkillers (other than painkillers subject to the Prescription Review Program)
• Inhalers     
• Oral contraceptives
• Insulin·
• An emergency supply (maximum three days) of other existing medication

2.4 Subject to paragraph 2.5 below, physicians should not prescribe a drug from any of the following groups for employees or co-workers:

• Any drug on the Prescription Review Program
• Hypnotics
• Anxlolytics
• Antipsychotics
• Antidepressants
• Appetite suppressants

2.5 It is acceptable for a physician to provide an employee with a limited time prescription for a hypnotic, anxiolytic, antipsychotic or antidepressant medication, where:

• the employee has been prescribed that medication by another physician;
• the prescription is intended to allow the patient to continue their regimen of the medication prescribed by another physician until the employee is able to obtain a prescription from another physician; and
• in the opinion of the physician, there is a potential of significant adverse consequences for the patient if the prescription is not provided.

3.1 An employee or coworker to whom a physician provides treatment is that physician’s patient.

3.2 A physician should meet the same standard of care when providing treatment to employees or coworkers as applies when treating other patients. The physician is expected to perform an assessment, including obtaining relevant history, conducting an appropriate physical examination if necessary and reaching a differential diagnosis to support the treatment.

3.3 The physician should maintain a record of the treatment of the employee or coworker that meets the standards of medical records in College bylaws.

Guideline Adopted by Council, June, 2012
To be Reviewed  June, 2017