How to create custom consents for your clinic

Who is this article for?

Colib's consent register already covers the usual consents: collection and use of personal information, sharing with a third party, parent or guardian consent, text message reminders. But every practice also collects consents of its own: photos for the clinical record, participation in group sessions, the presence of an interpreter or a student during the session, and so on.

With custom consents, you write these consents once, in your own words, in English and in French. Your team can then record them in any client record, and Colib keeps with each entry the exact wording that was presented to the client. If you change the wording later, you can still prove what each client agreed to.

Before you start: custom consents are created in Settings by a clinic administrator. Once they exist, every user who can edit client information can record them in a client record. To learn how the consent register works in general, see How to record and track client consents in Colib.

1Create a custom consent

1. Go to Settings > Clients (www.colib.io/settings?show=clients).
2. In the Custom consents section, click Add a custom consent.
3. Enter the Name (English): it is the name your team picks from the list and the one shown in the client's consent register, for example Photos for the clinical record. The Name (French) is optional; it is shown to users who work in French.
4. Write the Consent wording (English): the exact sentence the client agrees to, for example I agree that photos of the treated area may be taken during my sessions and kept in my clinical record, to follow the progress of my treatment. Add the Consent wording (French) if you have French-speaking clients.
5. Leave Active turned on, then click Save.

The consent appears in the table of the section, with its Name, the date in Wording last updated and its Status.

Tip: one custom consent per purpose. A client may agree to photos and refuse group sessions: with two separate consents, the register shows each answer clearly.

2Record a custom consent in a client record

1. Open the client record from your client list (www.colib.io/clients), click the Privacy tab, then Consents.
2. Click Record a consent.
3. In Type of consent, choose Custom consent. A second list appears: choose your consent in Custom consent.
4. Read the Wording presented to the client with the client, or check that it matches what they agreed to. It is shown in the client's language.
5. Choose the Answer: Consent obtained or Consent refused or withdrawn.
6. If the consent was given on an earlier day, enter the Date obtained. Leave it empty if it was given today.
7. If useful, add a few words in Details, for example how the consent was given (verbally at the first session, on the paper form).
8. Turn on the attestation I attest that this consent was given by the person concerned, or by the holder of parental authority.
9. Click Save.

Don't see Custom consent in the list? It only appears when your clinic has at least one active custom consent. Clinic administrators also see a Manage your custom consents link in the window, which opens Settings > Clients.

Important: the wording and your details are kept together with the entry, and together they cannot exceed 600 characters. If Colib tells you the details are too long, shorten them: the wording itself is always kept in full.

What the register keeps

The new entry appears at the top of the consent register of the client:

• Type: the name of your custom consent.
• Source: Practitioner, with the name of the person who recorded it.
• Version: the date and time (UTC) of the wording in force when the consent was recorded.
• Details: click View to read the exact wording presented to the client, followed by your details.

Above the table, each custom consent gets its own badge showing the client's current answer: a green check when the consent stands, a red cross when it was refused or withdrawn.

3Change the wording or stop using a consent

In Settings > Clients > Custom consents, click the pencil of a consent to open Edit custom consent.

• Change the wording: edit the text and click Save. The date in Wording last updated changes, and the consents you record from then on carry the new wording and the new version. The consents already recorded keep the wording that was presented at the time: nothing in the client records is rewritten.
• Rename a consent: changing only the name does not create a new version of the wording. The new name is shown everywhere, including on the entries already recorded.
• Stop using a consent: turn Active off and click Save. The consent is no longer offered when recording a consent, but the entries already recorded remain in the client records. Turn it back on at any time.

Important: a custom consent cannot be deleted, only deactivated, because client records may refer to it. If you change the meaning of a consent, create a new one rather than rewriting the old one: the register stays easy to read.

Good to know

• Who can do what — clinic administrators create, edit and deactivate custom consents. Users who can edit client information record them; users who can only view client records see the register without the Record a consent button.
• Each clinic has its own — custom consents belong to your clinic: they are only offered in your own client records.
• Up to 50 custom consents — once the limit is reached, the Add a custom consent link disappears. Deactivated consents count toward the limit.
• Nothing is edited or erased — like every entry of the register, a recorded custom consent cannot be modified or deleted. To correct a mistake, record a new entry with the right answer and explain it in the details. A withdrawal is recorded the same way, with Consent refused or withdrawn.
• Related — the other types of consent, what Colib records on its own and how to record a refusal: How to record and track client consents in Colib.

Still have a question?

Write to us at support@colib.io, we will be happy to help.