May 09, 2023
May 2023

CNO delivers featured presentation at AdvantAge Convention

The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) protects the public by promoting safe nursing practice. This includes articulating and promoting practice standards to nurses, health care partners and the public.

CNO participated in the AdvantAge Ontario 2023 Convention on April 19 and 20 in Toronto to answer questions from nurses, employers and health care partners, share the latest news and deliver insights.

Conference is part of CNO’s outreach to the public and nurses 

The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) protects the public by promoting safe nursing practice. This includes articulating and promoting practice standards to nurses, health care partners and the public.

CNO participated in the AdvantAge Ontario 2023 Convention on April 19 and 20 in Toronto to answer questions from nurses, employers and health care partners, share the latest news and deliver insights.

CNO was one of over 80 exhibitors at the senior care-focused convention and delivered a featured presentation.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to share our latest work to modernize applicant assessment and highlight forthcoming updates to the Code of Conduct,” said Angela McNabb, CNO’s manager for registration modernization, who presented alongside Advanced Practice Consultant Allyson Nowell. Additional subjects covered in the presentation were our work to transform Quality Assurance and scope changes.

Convention attendees were also encouraged by CNO to check out the Code of Conduct changes and resources that are available on our website. The changes will take effect as of Monday, June 5, 2023.

“Modernizing the registration process to assist applicants to complete their registration in a timely way, while protecting public safety, has produced outcomes we’re proud of,” said McNabb, who added that CNO continues to build on that progress.

Among those outcomes is that CNO has registered over 1,500 nurses through the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership (SPEP) since its inception in January 2022. CNO also set a record for new internationally educated nurses registered in 2022, doubling the previous record.

Over the past year, SPEP has helped support staffing needs at Ontario’s long-term care homes (LTCHs). As of March 31, 333 LTCH employers had signed up for the SPEP program, and 1,011 nursing applicants have been matched with LTCHs.

Nurses and health care partners also visited CNO staff at our exhibitor booth, where we answered questions and shared news about changes to the Code, standards and more.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to hear from members, the public and leaders in long-term care,” said Cindy Lee, a CNO Advanced Practice Consultant and Registered Nurse.

Among the subjects that CNO answered questions about were the new code of conduct, scope of practice and ongoing consultations.

“After three years of the pandemic I’m so grateful for the chance to share our latest news in person,” she added.

Members who have questions can always reach out to CNO on social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or Twitter, or via our customer service line.

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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