Thank You, Nurses
First-ever Workforce Census a success
CNO would like to thank every nurse who took our first-ever Workforce Census earlier this year. More than 31,000 of you completed the census! Thanks to your participation, we were able to collect a robust set of new data to inform our work in Ontario’s health care system. As this work unfolds, you can visit cno.org/census for updates and timelines for releasing the results.
“On behalf of CNO, thank you for taking the time to tell us about yourselves and your experience working in health care,” said Brent Knowles, Director, Analytics. “Your participation is extremely valuable—to us, as well as the entire system.”
CNO will use the important data you provided to help create meaningful change. We aim to work with our partners to remove barriers in the health care system, and create more equitable and inclusive policies for nurses like you.
“Without empirical data, change and measurement of its impact are impossible,” stated Ovie Onagbeboma, RN and CEO, Canadian Black Nurses Alliance (CBNA). “This is an opportunity to substantiate the disparities and discrimination members experience, paving the way for systemic change.
“Many members have spoken up, but their voices have not been heard—CBNA values each voice, as expressed by our slogan, ‘We See You’. This data serves to materialize those voices. Additionally, collecting data on its own does not ensure substantial necessary change. So, it’s pertinent for this data to inform and direct professional standards and best practice guidelines.”
For Dr. Nicole Blackman, RN, DNP and Director of Integrated Care and Clinical Services, Indigenous Primary Health Care Council (IPHCC), the link between data and progress is clear. “Knowing how many Indigenous nurses there are providing care will be the first step forward in helping combat anti-Indigenous racism. Having an actual number will allow us to advocate for targeted approaches for Indigenous health care providers and nursing. Without any sort of tool to give us a picture of what’s happening, we can’t advocate for more.”
CNO is grateful to all our valuable partners who helped develop and promote the census: CBNA, IPHCC, Black Nurses Task Force and Pan-Canadian Association of Nurses of African Descent (Ontario Black Nurses Network and Canadian Black Nurses Network). We will continue to collaborate with equity-deserving groups, to ensure we’re asking appropriate questions and measuring the right data in the best way.
We approached the Workforce Census in the spirit of learning and improving. We asked for your feedback and you responded—we will apply the suggestions you made to the next one. After all, there is much to learn from this census, about the health care system, our role as a regulator and the steps we can all take to address the barriers and biases that nurses in Ontario experience.
CNO is the authoritative source of province-wide data about nursing registration, application and employment in Ontario. Collecting and analyzing data about nursing registration is one way CNO achieves its purpose to protect the public by promoting safe nursing practice. Check cno.org/census for information about this work, including when we’ll release results.
