New guidance on the law supports appropriate use of consultation recording in healthcare
Published: 22 August 2023
Article submitted by: Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Opens in new tab)
Smartphone technologies are making it easier to record healthcare consultations, with new research showing that around one in four patients in Australia have recorded a consultation and one in two are interested in doing so.
The benefits of giving patients a recording or allowing them to record their consultation with their clinician, are supported by extensive evidence. Patients can benefit through improved recall, knowledge and understanding, satisfaction with their care, decisional satisfaction and a feeling of being supported both by clinicians and family members. Clinicians also recognise that consultation recording can improve healthcare quality and efficiency.
However, a barrier to consultation recording is concern or misunderstanding about what is permitted under Victorian law. So researchers at the University of Melbourne and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre have developed simple new guidance for consumers and clinicians about the law in Victoria.
The guidance, in the form of fact sheets, is available online (Opens in new tab), including in unbranded versions that can be rebranded by other organisations in Victoria. It comes with a Creative Commons licence, which enables sharing and adaptation of the material.
These fact sheets are written in plain language and were developed following extensive consultation with patients and relevant organisations. They are designed to support the responsible use of consultation audio recording in healthcare. One fact sheet is designed for clinicians and another for patients. They are available in English, simplified Chinese and Arabic.
The fact sheets cover what the law in Victoria says about several key topics, including:
- Consent for audio recording during a healthcare consultation;
- Permission to share recordings; and
- Storage and further uses of recordings.
Last reviewed: September 2023