Patient safety is a collective responsibility that involves partnership and support from CNO’s system partners and the public.
CNO partners with multiple organizations that have different roles in the nursing profession. Together we support safe nursing practice, and we each have a role in supporting quality nursing practice.
CNO often gets questions that need to be directed to one of our partners, because they are not within our mandate or scope to answer. It is important, as a nurse, to understand the roles of our system partners so that you know who to go to for questions and concerns about different topics.
| System Partner |
Role |
Questions Addressed |
| Employers |
Employers hire and pay nurses for their work based on their agreed terms. Employers create policies and procedures that support nursing roles within their specific practice setting. Employers have a role to support and provide training and development to staff related to the practice setting. |
- Labour relations
- Employment issues
- Compensation
- Workload
- Role and responsibilities
|
| Unions |
Unions act to proactively improve everyday working conditions by joining workers together to pursue policies and goals beneficial to all. Unions give workers a voice in changing workplace conditions and solving workplace issues. |
- Collective agreements
- Benefits, privileges, rights and obligations agreed by the union with your employer
|
| Associations |
Associations advocate for nurses and collaborate with decision makers to ensure nurses voices are heard on key professional practice and health policy issues. Associations often provide educational resources, best practice guidelines and tools for nurses to promote excellence in nursing practice. |
- Insurance (professional liability)
- Nursing advocacy
- Best practice guidelines
|
| CNO |
By law, CNO is required to set the entry-to-practice requirements and continued competency requirements and establish, promote and enforce the standards of practice for the nursing profession.
We regulate the profession to protect the public.
|
- Scope of practice
- Controlled acts
- Continuing competence
- Quality assurance
- Complaints or reports
- Entry-to-practice
- Registration (applying, reinstating, renewing or resigning)
- Membership fees
- Nursing education program approval
- Registration exams
|