July 26, 2023

CNO launches new format for Jurisprudence Exam

It provides increased accessibility and flexibility. 

It provides increased accessibility and flexibility

The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) protects the public through the promotion of safe nursing practice. As of July 17, all applicants seeking registration for the General, Special Assignment, Temporary, Reinstatement or Extended classes are required to pass a new jurisprudence examination (JE). The Emergency Class will require the new JE as of August.

The JE assesses applicants’ knowledge of their professional, legal and ethical accountabilities to ensure they are able to provide safe and competent nursing care in Ontario.

“The new jurisprudence examination is user friendly and provides applicants with increased accessibility and flexibility to complete this important registration requirement,” said Anne Marie Shin, CNO’s Director of Professional Practice and a RN. “Our new learning management system will help applicants engage with what they need to know to practice safely, and we look forward to supporting people throughout the process.”

The new exam format features an interactive “open book” e-learning module and a 50-question multiple-choice exam. The exam format means applicants may use other online or offline resources, for example, laws, regulations, CNO’s practice standards, to support their answers during testing. The new exam is available online and can be completed virtually in either English or French through a secure website.

The learning modules review content on nursing regulation, nursing scope of practice, professional responsibility and accountability, CNO practice standards, quality assurance and continuing competence.

The JE is available anytime and costs $40 plus applicable taxes, to write. Applicants have unlimited attempts to pass the exam, and the successful completion is valid for five years and can be used towards registration at any time during that period.

For more details, please visit the Jurisprudence Examination section of the CNO website.

If you have any questions, you can read our FAQ page

 

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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