Confidentiality and Anonymous or De-Identified Reports

Confidentiality During Reporting

The privacy of the complainant and respondent must be respected, with all parties maintaining confidentiality to the extent possible. Only those who need to be involved to review the matter, to respond, to provide information about an incident they witnessed, or those who are requested to provide personal support to an involved party, should be informed about a discussion, disclosure, or report. 

There are circumstances where Temerty Medicine or the University may need to take action urgently on a disclosure or report without obtaining consent at the time. This includes if there is an imminent risk to learners or others, a risk of harm to someone aged less than 18 years, sexual violence by a regulated healthcare professional, occupational health and safety considerations, or another legal, regulatory, or university obligation to act. We would discuss this in detail with learners coming forward, including ways that the LEU will continue to support them.

Anonymous and De-Identified Reports

Learners may feel it is unsafe to report in an identified manner and they may only wish to come forward in an anonymous or deidentified manner. 

• Anonymous reports are those in which the learner’s identity is not known to anyone at Temerty Medicine. Anonymous reports are generally submitted online through the LEU’s reporting tools. Using the Online Disclosure Form, you have the option to report mistreatment anonymously (i.e. without the requirement that you provide your identity). In such instances, learners will not be able to participate in the review process or receive information when it is reviewed/addressed. We will also miss out on the opportunity to provide support. 
• De-identified reports are those in which the learner’s identity is known to the Learner Experience Unit, but is withheld at the time the LEU escalates the report for review and management. 

The LEU will take steps to redact potentially identifiable information in submissions where a learner is anonymous. In cases where a learner is de-identified, the LEU will consult with the learner about this redaction process. However, learners must be aware that despite these efforts, it is possible that they may still be identified based on their description of the underlying incident(s).
Temerty Medicine’s ability to act upon anonymous and deidentified reports may be limited, owing to its obligations to provide the respondent with a full and fair opportunity to respond to allegations made against them. 

Nonetheless, to the extent possible, these types of reports will be escalated out of the LEU in order to collect information about systemic or cultural issues in the learning environment, which may inform systems-level interventions.