May 04, 2020
May 2020

Thanks for caring and being leaders in patient safety

A Nursing Week message from Anne Coghlan

As Nursing Week 2020 begins, it feels more important than ever to acknowledge your dedication and expertise, and to thank you for caring. Your work to ensure safe care for patients during these challenging times is inspiring.

It’s a special year for nurses around the world, with May 12 marking 200 years since the birth of Florence Nightingale. Well known as the founder of modern nursing, her vision for nursing professionals in the 19th century is still very much alive today. Leadership, collaboration, compassion and a commitment to patient care and well-being were values Nightingale upheld and instilled in her nursing students. These values remain central within the complexity of care today, with nurses applying their knowledge and judgment, along with scientific evidence, to their professional practice.

In honour of the 200th anniversary of Nightingale’s birth, the World Health Organization has declared 2020 the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. This year-long effort celebrates the work of nurses and midwives and highlights the challenging conditions they often face, making it particularly meaningful during a global pandemic. Times like this also remind us of the value of teamwork across all health care professions. If you can, I encourage you to take a moment this week to share with us on social media why you’re a nurse and to acknowledge your colleagues (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.)

As trusted health care professionals responding to this event with expertise and compassion, you continue to demonstrate your commitment to patients and their families. We are grateful for all you are doing. You are — and will continue to be — leaders in patient safety.

On behalf of everyone at CNO, I wish you all a safe and happy Nursing Week.

Stay well and thank you for caring.

Anne Coghlan, RN, MScN
Executive Director and CEO

A Nursing Week message from Anne Coghlan

As Nursing Week 2020 begins, it feels more important than ever to acknowledge your dedication and expertise, and to thank you for caring. Your work to ensure safe care for patients during these challenging times is inspiring.

It’s a special year for nurses around the world, with May 12 marking 200 years since the birth of Florence Nightingale. Well known as the founder of modern nursing, her vision for nursing professionals in the 19th century is still very much alive today. Leadership, collaboration, compassion and a commitment to patient care and well-being were values Nightingale upheld and instilled in her nursing students. These values remain central within the complexity of care today, with nurses applying their knowledge and judgment, along with scientific evidence, to their professional practice.

In honour of the 200th anniversary of Nightingale’s birth, the World Health Organization has declared 2020 the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. This year-long effort celebrates the work of nurses and midwives and highlights the challenging conditions they often face, making it particularly meaningful during a global pandemic. Times like this also remind us of the value of teamwork across all health care professions. If you can, I encourage you to take a moment this week to share with us on social media why you’re a nurse and to acknowledge your colleagues (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter).

As trusted health care professionals responding to this event with expertise and compassion, you continue to demonstrate your commitment to patients and their families. We are grateful for all you are doing. You are — and will continue to be — leaders in patient safety.

On behalf of everyone at CNO, I wish you all a safe and happy Nursing Week.

Stay well and thank you for caring.

Anne Coghlan, RN, MScN
Executive Director and CEO

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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