November 08, 2023
November 2023

Highlights

This month’s highlights include reminders for how you can make a difference on Council and committees, the next Council meeting and CNO’s outreach at a long-term care conference.

Reminder: Get your nomination form to run for the Council election in by Friday, Nov. 24

CNO is holding Council elections in three districts: the Southwestern and Central Western districts for NPs, RNs and RPNs, and the Central Toronto district for RPNs.

You can find out more about the districts and elections on our Council elections page.

If you’re eligible to run for election in one of these three districts, you were notified by email on Oct. 12. Council benefits from members who can bring diverse experiences, skills and perspectives – this could include you. It’s an important responsibility to protect the public by promoting safe nursing practice, and it’s a rewarding one too.

If you’re interested in running for Council, you can read our Council elections page to see what’s involved and submit your nomination form by 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 24.

Voting for candidates will take place from Monday, Jan. 22, 2024 to Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.

Reminder: Get your nomination form to volunteer for a committee appointment in by Friday, Dec. 1 

CNO is also looking for nurses to join committees. Unlike Council elections, these are appointments and we’re looking for nurses like you, province-wide, who have the knowledge, skill and judgment to protect the public interest and the enthusiasm to give back.

You can learn more about committee appointments, including the time commitment, accountabilities the role comes with and how to apply on our website. 

Save the date for next Council meeting

We’re just a few weeks away from the final Council meeting of the calendar year.

Council, which is CNO’s board of directors, will meet from Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023 to Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023 to discuss items related to how to protect the public by promoting safe nursing practice.

You can follow along the Council meeting through social media channels. We provide livestreams of the meeting on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).

We also provide all the Council details you need to know at our Council webpage. The briefing package for the December meeting will be posted about a week before Wednesday, Dec. 6.

For more Council information you can also follow CNO’s social media feeds on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter). 

CNO meets with nurses and health care partners at Ontario Long-Term Care Association conference

CNO met with nurses, employers and other health care partners at the annual Ontario Long-Term Care Association conference from Oct. 22 to 24.

The conference, which took place in Toronto, brought together health care professionals from around the province to discuss emerging research, quality improvement initiatives and innovations in the sector. It included keynote speakers, discussion panels and booths.

CNO had a booth where we welcomed attendees, listened to comments and answered questions.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to meet with long-term care home staff and health care partners,” said Amanda Laird, a Registered Nurse and CNO’s Team Lead for Practice Quality. “We know how important long-term care is to our health care system and we are always here to support nurses to deliver safe care to residents.”

You can learn more about updated practice resources here. 

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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