Codes and Guidelines

The Osteopathy Board of Australia has developed codes and guidelines to provide guidance to the profession. These also help to clarify our views and expectations on a range of issues.

Policies

Document	PDF	Accessible format	Date of effect
Common Protocol - Informing notifiers about the reasons for National Board decisions	PDF (91.8KB)	Word version (58.6 KB,DOCX)	1 August 2018

Codes and guidelines

Document	PDF	Accessible format	Date of effect
Guideline - Informing a National Board about where you practice	PDF (152 KB)	Word version (590 KB,DOCX)	1 August 2018
Code of conduct For more information see Code of conduct page	PDF (323KB)	Web page	29 June 2022
Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service	PDF (192KB)	Web page	14 December 2020
Guidelines: Mandatory notifications about registered health practitioners*	PDF (250 KB)	Web page	1 March 2020
Guidelines: Mandatory notifications about registered students**	PDF (150 KB)	Web page	1 March 2020
Osteopathy continuing professional development guidelines	PDF (506 KB)	Word version (108 KB,DOCX)	From 1 December 2015
Osteopathy guidelines for clinical records	PDF (147 KB)		24 April 2012
Managing health records – Self-reflective tool		Web page	20 April 2023
Managing health records – Summary of obligations	PDF (64KB)	Web page	20 April 2023
Osteopathy guidelines informed consent	PDF (133 KB)	Word version (116 KB,DOC)	10 April 2013
Osteopathy guidelines sexual and professional boundaries	PDF (120 KB)	Word version (122 KB,DOC)	10 April 2013
Osteopathy framework - pathways for registration of overseas-trained osteopaths	PDF (240 KB)	Word version (87.2 KB,DOCX)	1 January 2014

Policy directions

Under Section 11 of the National Law, as in force in each state and territory, the Ministerial Council may issue a National Board with policy directions.

Document	PDF	Accessible format	Date of effect
Policy Direction 2019-01 - Paramountcy of public protection when administering the National Scheme Policy Direction 2019-02 - Requirements to consult with patient safety bodies and health care consumer bodies on every new and revised registration standard, code and guidelines	PDF (2.34MB)		8 January 2020

Guidelines for infection control

Document	PDF	Accessible format	Date of effect
Osteopathy guidelines for Infection control	PDF (145KB)		19 December 2011
» NHMRC (2019) Australian guidelines for the prevention and control of infection in health care, Commonwealth of Australia	PDF	NHMRC web page

Supervised practice

Document	PDF	Accessible format	Date of effect
Supervised practice framework^† For more information see Supervised practice framework page	PDF (202KB)	Web page	1 February 2022
Supervision guidelines For more information see Supervised practice framework page	PDF (76.0KB)	Web page	1 February 2022

^† The Supervised practice framework was updated in April 2023 to reflect the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia adopting the framework from 1 April 2023.

FAQ and Fact Sheets

For more information, please refer to FAQ and Fact Sheets.

Retired versions

Document	PDF	Date of effect
Code of conduct	PDF (144 KB)	17 March 2014 to 28 June 2022
Osteopathy guidelines for supervision	PDF (571 KB)	April 2013 (last reviewed April 2015) to 31 January 2022
Guidelines for advertising regulated health services	PDF (155 KB)	To 13 December 2020
Guidelines for mandatory notifications	PDF (149 KB)	To 29 February 2020
Infection control: summary of NHMRC guidelines for osteopaths	PDF (313 KB)	To 25 July 2019
Osteopathy guidelines for Infection control	PDF (305 KB)	To 25 July 2019
Code of conduct	PDF (452 KB)	To 16 March 2014
Guidelines for advertising of regulated health services	PDF (459 KB)	To 16 March 2014
Guidelines for mandatory notifications	PDF (421 KB)	To 16 March 2014
Osteopathy continuing professional development guidelines	PDF (557 KB)	To 30 November 2015

*The Guidelines: Mandatory notifications about registered health practitioners have been updated on 29 June 2020 to include minor formatting and word changes and changes to the flowcharts on pages 20, 22 and 26 of the guidelines.

**The Guidelines: Mandatory notifications about registered students have been updated on 29 June 2020 to include minor formatting and word changes and sections 39 and 40 of the National Law in Appendix A.