January 31, 2024
January 2024

New national NP regulation model

The new model will provide more regulatory consistency and labour flexibility. 

A new national regulation model for Nurse Practitioners (NPs) is coming to Canada.

The Canadian Council of Registered Nurse Regulators (CCRNR) is overseeing the implementation of a new regulatory framework for NPs, which is supported by the Nurse Practitioner Regulation Framework Implementation Plan Project (NPR-FIPP). The national project, which includes work and input from CNO, will update Ontario’s framework for registering NPs by removing specialty certificates and creating one category of NP registration. 

The purpose of the NPR-FIPP is to plan for a new model for NP regulation across Canada, which involves moving toward

  • graduate-level education programs aligned with revised NP entry-level competencies (ELCs)
  • a single national NP entry-level exam across Canada
  • one NP registration category based on NP ELCs

The goal is that NP entry-level education programs in Canada will prepare students for general NP practice across the life span of clients in all practice settings. Eventually, regulators no longer will be registering new NPs in specialties. Nurse practitioners currently practicing in specialty areas will continue to be regulated, and current NPs will not lose their registration as a result of this framework.

“We are looking to improve regulatory consistency, provide more flexibility for how NPs are deployed in the workplace and support additional labour flexibility,” says Carol Timmings, Chief Quality Officer at CNO.

Timmings added that the new NP model will maintain NPs’ high standard of having the knowledge, skill and judgment to practice safely.   

CNO had extensive consultations with practicing NPs and NP educators for the revised ELCs, including sharing a national survey with all NPs in Ontario. We will continue to share information and consult with NPs throughout the project. To learn more, visit CCRNR’s NPR-FIPP website.

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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