October 11, 2023
October 2023

CNO’s Registration Practices in 2022: Highlights from the Fair Registration Practices Report

The submission highlights improvements and changes we have made or planned to enhance fairness, objectivity and timeliness in registration decisions.  

As part of our commitment to fair and transparent registration practices, CNO submits an annual report to the Office of the Fairness Commissioner (OFC), a government agency that oversees the registration processes of regulated professions and trades in Ontario.

CNO’s Fair Registration Practices Report provides an overview of our registration activities, policies and initiatives in the previous year. It also highlights the improvements and changes that we have implemented or planned, to enhance the fairness, objectivity and timeliness of its registration decisions.

Here are some of the highlights from the 2022 submission:

  • Temporary Class and Reinstatement Registration Regulation Changes: CNO amended its regulations to allow applicants who have met all the registration requirements except for passing the entry-to-practice exam to register in the Temporary Class for up to two years. This change was made to address the challenges and delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. CNO also revised its reinstatement policy to allow former members who have been out of practice for more than three years to reinstate their registration without having to complete additional education or assessment.

  • REx-PN Entry-to-Practice Examination: In Jan. 2022, CNO implemented the REx-PN, a new entry-to-practice exam for applicants who want to become RPNs in Ontario. The REx-PN is a computer-based, adaptive test that assesses the competencies and knowledge required for safe and effective RPN practice.

  • Nursing Program Transformation Initiative (NPTI): In 2022, CNO collaborated with the Government of Ontario’s NPTI to share information and data to help inform the development of several online, asynchronous gap filler programs. These programs are designed to help internationally educated nurses (IENs) and Canadian-educated nurses who have not met the currency requirement to bridge their gaps in knowledge, skills and judgement.

  • Supervised Practice Experience Partnership (SPEP): Launched in Jan. 2022, SPEP offers applicants who have not met the evidence of practice or language proficiency requirements an option to complete a supervised practice experience in Ontario. The SPEP is a partnership between CNO, Ontario Health, health care employers and nursing education providers. It provides applicants with an opportunity to demonstrate their current nursing knowledge, skill and judgement and their language proficiency skills in a clinical setting. To date, we have registered 2,410 new nurses through SPEP.

  • Language Proficiency Policy: CNO’s new Language Proficiency policy took effect in March 2022. The new policy outlines a variety of mechanisms as options for applicants to provide evidence of language proficiency for registering to practice as nurses in Ontario. These include nursing or health care-related education and/or experience in an English or French setting, standardized language tests or other evidence accepted by CNO.

CNO’s Fair Registration Practices Report demonstrates its ongoing efforts to ensure that its registration practices are fair, transparent, objective and impartial. Learn more about how we are modernizing applicant assessment.

 

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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