February 28, 2022
February 2022

Regulatory change expands patient access to point-of-care tests

Starting Friday, July 1, 2022, all nurses will be able to perform point-of-care tests. Regulation changes, which the Ministry of Health announced on Feb. 19, 2022, will make nurses’ authority to perform point-of-care tests clear.

Starting Friday, July 1, 2022, all nurses will be able to perform point-of-care tests. Regulation changes, which the Ministry of Health announced on Feb. 19, 2022, will make nurses’ authority to perform point-of-care tests clear.

This regulatory change grants all nurses an explicit exemption under the Laboratory and Specimen Collection Centre Licensing Act to perform point-of-care tests without receiving an order or directive to do so.

Registered Nurses (RNs) and Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs) currently perform point-of-care tests, and the regulation makes clear they can continue to do so. The regulatory change also represents an expansion for Nurse Practitioners (NPs), who currently don’t have the authority to perform point-of-care tests.

Conducting point-of-care tests and collecting specimens can be part of the patient’s plan of care, and can help diagnose and formulate treatment plans for patients in a timely manner. Point-of-care tests (which include but are not limited to glucose blood tests, urine dipstick analysis and pregnancy tests) are performed at the patient’s bedside or at a clinic.

Performing point-of-care tests safely includes assessing the patient’s condition, evaluating the accompanying benefits and risks of the test, and ensuring that you have the adequate resources available to perform the activity safely. While many patients won’t notice any difference in the care they receive, the change means that some won’t need to go to a different facility, lab or to the emergency room to have a simple test done. For some patients, it could mean that they don’t have to wait for diagnostic testing. It also can mean that individuals with mobility difficulties can receive more direct care.

Because nurses may already perform point-of-care tests under authorizing mechanisms, like direct orders or directives, CNO has practice standards and guidelines to support safe nursing practice and uphold patient safety. These include the Decisions About Procedures and Authority practice standard, which says you must possess the knowledge, skill and judgment to perform any given point-of-care test safely.

Depending on your individual learning needs you could also choose to include point-of-care tests as part of your annual goal-setting and ongoing learning for this year's Quality Assurance (QA) Program. (See the article in this issue about QA for more information.)

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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