Week 11-Nursing Standards and CNO

Professional Standards for Nurses in Ontario

• The professional expectations of nurses in Ontario apply to all nurses, including nurse administrators, educators, and researchers.
• Nursing in Ontario is one profession with two categories: RN (including NPs) and RPN, with different foundational knowledge bases due to differences in basic nursing education.
• Nurses are accountable for their decisions and actions and are responsible for maintaining competence throughout their career.
• The central focus of professional nursing services is the clients, who make their own decisions as partners in the decision-making process.
• The goal of professional practice is to achieve the best possible outcome for clients with no unnecessary exposure to harm.
• Nurses continually enhance their knowledge through education, experience, and self-assessment and can become experts in a specific area of practice within their category.
• Nurses are accountable to the public, must meet standards, and are responsible for their actions, conduct, and continuing competence.
• The Continuing Competence QA program ensures nurses' knowledge, skill, and judgment for quality nursing practice.
• Nurses are expected to uphold values and beliefs, including well-being, choice, privacy, confidentiality, respect for life, maintaining commitments, truthfulness, fairness, integrity, honesty, and professionalism.
• Nursing practice requires knowledge, its application to practice, leadership, and the establishment and maintenance of respectful, collaborative, therapeutic, and professional relationships.
• The entry-to-practice capabilities for nurses in Ontario are organized into seven categories: cognitive, communication, interpersonal, behavioral, psychomotor, sensory, and environmental.
• Each category captures the components necessary for entry-level nursing practice and includes specific skills and abilities required for nursing practice in Ontario.

Regulation of Nursing in Ontario: Key Points

• The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) is the governing body for Registered Nurses (RNs), Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs), and Nurse Practitioners (NPs) in Ontario.
• The CNO establishes entry requirements, practice standards, and administers quality assurance programs.
• The CNO works to protect the public interest and partners with employers, educators, and government for quality nursing services.
• The CNO is distinct from the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) and the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO).
• The CNO's purpose is to promote safe nursing practice and has practice standards and guidelines for all nurses in Ontario.
• Only members of the CNO are allowed to refer to themselves as nurses in Ontario.
• The Nursing Act, 1991, along with the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 (RHPA), regulate the nursing profession in Ontario.
• The Nursing Act covers registration, scope of practice, controlled acts, quality assurance, and professional misconduct.
• The Act provides title protection, making it illegal to practice as a nurse without registration.
• Entry to practice requirements include nursing education, national registration examination (NCLEX), jurisprudence examination, language proficiency, and citizenship proof.
• Nurses in Ontario are authorized to perform five controlled acts, including administering substances and treating by means of psychotherapy technique.
• The CNO's professional standards apply to all nurses and serve as expectations for public protection.