March 08, 2018
March 2019

How your feedback is shaping the future of RN prescribing

At its March meeting, following discussion of feedback and how it aligned with the vision that RN prescribing will be safe for patients, Council agreed to send the proposed RN prescribing regulation to government for review and approval. The regulation will not take effect until government approves it.

More than 900 of you completed the survey about the proposed regulation. We also received another 900 written responses from individuals and some groups such as nursing associations and other regulators.

While we heard a variety of opinions, most of you supported RN prescribing. Some respondents also suggested that, in the future, we should add to the types of medications that RNs would be authorized to prescribe. Our goal is to evaluate this first phase of RN prescribing before adding new medications.

In some cases, we received feedback about government laws that our regulation cannot address. For example, RNs working in hospital settings will not be able to prescribe medication because the laws governing Ontario hospitals do not permit them to prescribe medication for hospital patients. Similarly, we can’t change regulations to allow RNs to order lab tests. However, we will share your feedback with the Ministry of Health.

At its March meeting, following discussion of feedback and how it aligned with the vision that RN prescribing will be safe for patients, Council agreed to send the proposed RN prescribing regulation to government for review and approval. The regulation will not take effect until government approves it.

More than 900 of you completed the survey about the proposed regulation. We also received another 900 written responses from individuals and some groups such as nursing associations and other regulators.

While we heard a variety of opinions, most of you supported RN prescribing. Some respondents also suggested that, in the future, we should add to the types of medications that RNs would be authorized to prescribe. Our goal is to evaluate this first phase of RN prescribing before adding new medications.

In some cases, we received feedback about government laws that our regulation cannot address. For example, RNs working in hospital settings will not be able to prescribe medication because the laws governing Ontario hospitals do not permit them to prescribe medication for hospital patients. Similarly, we can’t change regulations to allow RNs to order lab tests. However, we will share your feedback with the Ministry of Health.

We also received general support for proposed changes to requirements for nurses when dispensing medication and administering substances by injection or inhalation. These changes strive to promote consistent standards for all nurses when performing controlled acts.

We plan to use your feedback to determine future communication and education strategies on RN prescribing.

Visit our Journey to RN prescribing page for updates and answers to your frequently asked questions.

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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