December 10, 2024

Your top Customer Service inquiries in 2024

In 2024, CNO’s Customer Service team supported nurses and applicants by handling over 73,000 inquiries. Here’s what you wanted to know.

An illustration of common items associated with customer service such as a phone and headset.

Every year, CNO’s Customer Service team works hard to support your needs.

From Jan. 1 to Nov. 1 in 2024, that meant answering 46,333 phone calls and 26,728 emails from nurses, applicants and members of the public.

“We’re proud to be here for the needs of nurses and applicants,” said Michael Van Viegen, Manager of Customer Service.

“Whether people call in to find the appropriate information on our website or we help with their needs over email, we are happy to serve,” he added.

We asked Customer Service about 2024’s top nurse inquiries and the corresponding answers.

How do I update my personal information with CNO?

There are many reasons why you might need to update your personal information, such as moving, a new primary email address (make sure to keep them current!), a new employer or a name change.

Regardless of the reason, CNO by-laws state that, as a nurse, you are obligated to make sure your information is accurate within 30 days of any change. Doing so helps ensure you get the latest information from CNO and increases transparency and public trust.

Updating your information is easy. It’s as simple as logging into Maintain Your Membership and saving your latest information. If you need your name changed, then please reach out to Customer Service.

How do I become a nurse registered with CNO?

A big part of what our Customer Service team does is help guide CNO applicants through the process of becoming registered as a nurse. We know how important this journey is to applicants and, as part of our commitment to support health and human resources, we try to make the registration process supportive, accessible and timely.

That is done in a few different ways. One way is offering a step-by-step guide on our website for applicants who graduated from an Ontario nursing program.

We offer a separate guide for nurses from other Canadian provinces and territories, as we’re here to support jurisdictional mobility.

And for nurses who are joining the extended class as NPs—congratulations! We have a guide for you, too.

We often get lots of questions from Internationally Educated Nurses on navigating the process, and we’re here to help. We have a detailed webpage that provides resources on a variety of frequently asked questions, such as which documents you need, how to register with the National Nursing Assessment Service, registration requirements and the registration examination.

Can you tell me more about the Workforce Census?

In 2024, CNO received lots of interest about our first Workforce Census.

We launched the census in February so that we could understand the demographics, lived experiences and needs of nurses better.

Many people reached out to learn more about the census, which was great to see; nurses wanted to learn how to fill it out, how it would be used and more. Overall, 31,000 nurses completed the optional Workforce Census. While the results aren’t fully reflective of the nursing population, it provides a strong foundation for evidence-based outreach, identifying gaps and measuring progress.

You can learn more on our website about the report, for example, how we collected the information and what comes next.

Reach out for more

As always, our Customer Service team is here for your needs and can be reached by email or phone. We also have a dedicated team to answer any questions about Annual Membership Renewal.

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.

Related links