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Information for Sponsor Organizations
The following information is for sponsor organizations interested in providing a Supervised Practice Experience.
The Supervised Practice Experience (SPE) is a self-directed option for nurses registered in the Non-Practising Class to obtain their evidence of practice requirement to requalify for registration in the General Class.
Nurses who choose to participate in a SPE will contact a potential sponsor organization in Ontario and arrange for their practice experience.
Read the SPE page for more details about this initiative.
Sponsor organization’s responsibilities
Sponsor organizations who agree to provide a SPE must be approved by CNO and agree to:
- complete the SPE Sponsoring Organization, Nurse and Supervisor Agreement Form
- assign a nurse supervisor to supervise the nurse. The supervisor can be an RPN, RN or NP if the supervised nurse is an RPN. However, RNs can be supervised by either an RN or NP.
- provide CNO the name of the primary supervising nurse (primary contact)
- arrange for orientation to inform the nurse of relevant policies, procedures, resource materials as well as the general practice environment
- offer a supervised practice experience appropriate to the nurses’ competence and within their legislated scope of practice. The supervised nurse may perform the five controlled acts authorized to nursing. Read the information for nurses page for details of a nurse’s accountabilities
- contact CNO regarding concerns or clarifications when needed
- report to CNO if there is reason to believe that the supervised nurse has sexually abused a client, is incompetent or incapacitated. Refer to the Reporting Guide for more information
- complete documentation to verify completion of the practice experience.
There is no minimum number of hours required to complete the practice experience. This time period is determined by the nurse’s individual learning needs. However, participating nurses must complete it within a six-month period.
When you agree to be a sponsor organization for a nurse’s SPE, you should consider whether Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) coverage is required, based on your organization’s policies.
Organizations cannot:
- use the supervised nurse to replace its nursing staff
Nurse supervisor responsibilities
The role of the supervisor is pivotal to the practice experience. The supervisor acts as a resource, role model, mentor/coach, and supervisor. Supervision may be direct or indirect based on the needs of the supervised nurse. Indirect supervision means the supervisor is readily available for consultation but is not directly at the side of the supervised nurse.
The supervisor must:
- hold a current RPN, RN and/or NP Certificate of Registration in the General Class or Extended Class with CNO
- have a minimum of three consecutive years of nursing practice
- not be the subject of any investigations or have an open file with the CNO’s Quality Assurance Program
- have sufficient time and resources to take on the responsibility of supervision
- disclose to CNO any pre-existing relationship (e.g., family, social/personal, business) with the supervised nurse that might interfere with their ability to objectively evaluate the supervised nurse
Please note RPN’s can be supervised by either a qualified RPN, RN or NP supervisor, whereas RNs can only be supervised by a qualified RN or NP supervisor.
Multiple supervisors can oversee the practice experience of the participating nurse, but the organization will need to identify a primary supervisor for contact purposes.
Program completion
Once the SPE ends, the sponsor organization must complete and submit to CNO the Supervised Practice Experience Completion Form to enp@cnomail.org.
Sponsor organizations and supervisors who have questions or need more information about the SPE should contact CNO’s Monitoring team by phone at 416 928-0900, ext. 7683; Toll-free in Canada at 1 800 387-5526, ext. 7683; by Fax at 416 928-1914; or by email at monitoring@cnomail.org.
Also read: Information for Nurses
