June 20, 2023
June 2023

New Scope of Practice standard coming in July

On June 8, 2023, Council approved a Scope of Practice standard that outlines nurses’ legislative accountabilities and other key requirements nurses need to consider when deciding whether to perform an activity for safe client care.

The standard outlines nurses' accountabilities

On June 8, 2023, Council approved a Scope of Practice standard that outlines nurses’ legislative accountabilities and other key requirements nurses need to consider when deciding whether to perform an activity for safe client care. The Scope of Practice standard will take effect on Saturday, July 1, 2023.

“The nursing profession is always evolving – nursing regulation, including scope of practice, needs to keep pace. That’s why we prioritized standard modernization work and aligned with proposed regulatory changes to expand nursing scope of practice, such as RPN initiation, RN prescribing and NP scope changes,” says Carol Timmings, CNO’s Chief Quality Officer and Deputy Registrar “This Scope of Practice standard supports safe nursing practice in Ontario and system readiness when changes to nursing scope of practice takes effect.”

Along with legislative accountabilities, the Scope of Practice standard also outlines expectations on the principles of nursing competence and the context in which a nurse works. For example, nurses must also consider whether they have the knowledge, skill and judgment to perform the activity and if the workplace policy allows it in the practice setting.

“The accountabilities in this practice standard are not new. The standard brings together information from legislation and CNO practice standards and guidelines to create a clear and comprehensive document useful to nurses when deciding safe patient care,” says Timmings.

The practice standard includes information from the Nursing Act, 1991 and the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991. It also integrates key information and replaces CNO’s practice standard, Decision About Procedures and Authority and CNO guidelines; Authorizing Mechanisms and RN and RPN Practice: The Client, the Nurse and the Environment (referred to as the Three Factor Framework).

The Scope of Practice standard is available on our Standards and Learning webpage. We will also update and share supporting resources when the practice standard takes effect.

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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