A message to you, Ontario's nurses
At the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO), we know ongoing health system pressures and staffing challenges are creating a great deal of stress and uncertainty for many of you. We also know, despite these circumstances, you are considering patient needs, public safety and are doing your very best every day.
Just as you are responding to the system pressures of today by doing more to support public safety, so, too, is CNO. Our purpose is to protect the public by promoting safe nursing practice. One of the main ways we do this is by registering nurses who have the knowledge, skill and judgment to practice nursing safely. During these challenging times, CNO is working hard to support patient care needs by registering as many nurses as possible.
We’ve been busy modernizing our applicant assessment and registration practices to make them more accessible and efficient. Streamlining our processes to reduce timelines for applicants and register more nurses is our utmost priority. In this way we’re doing our part to help respond to health care system needs during a critical time.
One way we’re modernizing our registration process is facilitating opportunities for applicants to meet their evidence of practice requirement. We partnered with Ontario Health to create the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership, which matches nursing applicants with employers so they can complete a supervised practice experience, meeting their evidence of practice and, in some instances, language proficiency requirements.
As well, CNO is engaging with our partners in health care, government and academia to address the challenges internationally educated applicants face, when seeking appropriate opportunities to meet the education requirement for registration. Increasing access to appropriate educational opportunities helps applicants complete this requirement and register in a shorter timeframe.
We’re already seeing the returns. Our particular focus on internationally educated applicants resulted in a 46% increase in registration of new internationally educated nurses in 2021 compared to 2020 — a record high. Already, with half the year still to go, we’ve surpassed last year’s number. This means, 2022 will be our biggest year yet for registering internationally educated applicants.
Hearing your concerns about the standard of care
We’ve heard that some of you are concerned about maintaining standards of practice under current and evolving conditions, particularly if your workplace is experiencing staff shortages. I want to assure you that, when a report or complaint is made to CNO, we assess all information with consideration for the context in which you are working and providing care. We know and appreciate that you are doing your best in every situation.
Our Standards and Guidelines page has more information about working in this current climate and how the standard of care is always considered in context. You can contact our Practice Quality team for consultation and additional resources to support your safe practice.
Our health care system is strongest when we all work together to support patient safety. I commit that CNO will continue to collaborate with all our system partners — nurses, government, employers and academia — to further develop and implement meaningful solutions. When we share our wide range of experiences, knowledge and insights, we can make a meaningful impact.
I extend my heartfelt appreciation to every one of you for your extraordinary commitment and dedication, as you continue to work tirelessly to keep patients safe. Thank you for your skill, compassion and caring.
Stay safe and stay well.
Carol Timmings, RN
Acting Executive Director and CEO of CNO
