February 27, 2025

Dear CNO

An RPN asks if they can administer an injection to a friend with a prescription.

A female RPN smiling while preparing to administer an injection.

I am a Registered Practical Nurse and recently, one of my friends asked me if I could give her Prolia injections for osteoporosis. She has a prescription for this medication. Can I administer this medication to my friend?

You can provide care to family members or friends, as long as it’s clear you’re doing so as a family member or friend and not in your professional role as a nurse. Caring for a family member or friend outside your work setting, even if you’re using your nursing knowledge and skills, CNO doesn’t consider this as practicing nursing. So, if you decide to administer this medication to your friend, you’re doing it as a friend, not as a nurse.

It's important to think about the risks and benefits of giving a medication to a friend. Ask yourself if it’s in your friend’s best interest. Do you have the right knowledge, skill and judgment to administer the medication safely? Can you provide all necessary education and manage any adverse reactions?

There may be limited situations where nurses might need to provide care for a family member, friend or acquaintance in their professional role, but these should be limited to times when no other care providers are available. To learn more, check out the Therapeutic Nurse-Client Relationship practice standard.

I hope this helps!

Cathy Tersigni, RN, BScN, MN
Advanced Practice Consultant

About CNO

The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) is the regulator of the nursing profession in Ontario. It is not a school or a nursing association. CNO acts in the public interest by:

  • assessing qualifications and registering individuals who want to practice nursing in Ontario.
  • setting the practice standards of the profession that nurses in Ontario are expected to meet.
  • promoting nurses' continuing competence through a quality assurance program.
  • holding nurses accountable to those standards by addressing complaints or reports about nursing care.

The College was founded in 1963. By establishing the College, the Ontario government was acknowledging that the nursing profession had the ability to govern itself and put the public's well-being ahead of professional interests.

For the latest information, please see our Nursing Statistics page.

Anyone who wants to use a nursing-related title — Registered Nurse (RN), Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) or Nurse Practitioner (NP) must become a member of CNO.

Frequently Asked Questions

Go to the public Register, Find a Nurse, to conduct a search for the nurse. Contact us if you can't find the person you are looking for.

All public information available about nurses is posted in the public Register, Find a Nurse, which contains profiles of every nurse in Ontario. Publicly available information about nurses include their registration history, business address, and information related to pending disciplinary hearings or past findings.

Unregistered practitioners are people who are seeking employment in nursing or holding themselves out as being able to practice nursing in Ontario, but who are not qualified to do so. They are not registered members of CNO. Only people registered with CNO can use nursing-related titles or perform certain procedures that could cause harm if carried out by a non-registered health professional. CNO takes the issue of unregistered practitioners seriously. See Unregistered Practitioners for more information.

To ensure procedural fairness for both the patient (or client) and the nurse, the Regulated Health Professions Act requires that information gathered during an investigation remain confidential until the matter is referred to the Discipline Committee or Fitness to Practise Committee. CNO will not disclose any information that could identify patients (or clients) or compromise an investigation. See Investigations: A Process Guide for more information.

Information obtained during an investigation will become public if the matter is referred to a disciplinary hearing. If a complaint is not referred to a hearing, no information will be available publicly.

See CNO's hearings schedule, which is updated as hearing dates are confirmed. Hearings at CNO are open to the public and the media. For details on how to attend a hearing, contact the Hearings Administration Team.

A summary of allegations and the disciplinary panel outcomes can be found on the public Register, Find a Nurse. Full decisions and reasons are also available.

Where a disciplinary panel makes a finding of professional misconduct, they have the authority to reprimand a nurse, and suspend or revoke a nurse's registration. Terms, conditions and limitations can also be imposed on a nurse's registration, which restricts their practice for a set period. Nurses can also be required to complete remedial activities, such as reviewing CNO documents and meeting with an expert, before returning to practice.

For detailed information see the Sexual Abuse Prevention section.

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