September 21, 2022
September 2022

Support concussion safety

With school back in full swing, amateur sports and its public safety needs are top of mind as well. This year sees increased emphasis on concussion safety, as Rowan’s Law (legislation the government passed in 2018), took full effect earlier this year. The goal of the law is to improve concussion awareness and safety — and health care providers like you have a role to play. 

With school back in full swing, amateur sports and its public safety needs are top of mind as well. This year sees increased emphasis on concussion safety, as Rowan’s Law (legislation the government passed in 2018), took full effect earlier this year. The goal of the law is to improve concussion awareness and safety — and health care providers like you have a role to play.

The final parts of Rowan’s Law took effect on January 1, 2022. The law applies to amateur competitive sport throughout the province, including athletics in schools. It includes requirements on removing and returning amateur athletes from sport when a concussion or a suspected concussion occurs. Under the law, athletes cannot return to practice or play unless a Nurse Practitioner (NP) or physician has medically assessed them, and approved their return to the sport.

What this means for you

NPs and physicians are the only health care professionals who can clear athletes for a return-to-sport. Therefore, if you are an NP, you may see an increase in the number of suspected concussion patients and requests for documentation.

While Rowan’s Law doesn’t prescribe the form that returning to play must take, sports organizations and school boards may request a medical note as part of their protocols.

But all nurses have a role to play in supporting concussion safety. Nurses should be aware of the signs and symptoms of sport-related concussion injuries, and should share supporting materials with patients and their guardians. There are resources available online to help health care providers support concussion safety efforts, including handbooks, awareness training tools and online courses.

Marking Rowan’s Law Day

Ontario marks Rowan’s Law Day annually on the last Wednesday of September, which this year falls on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022.

The purpose of the day is to raise awareness about concussion safety and remember the namesake of the law. Rowan Stringer, the rugby captain of her high school team who aspired to become a nurse, died tragically in May 2013, after sustaining a concussion during a match. She was 17.

A coroner’s inquest found that she had likely suffered two earlier concussions in the previous five days, and the fatal concussion was due to second impact syndrome. (Second impact syndrome occurs when an individual experiences a second head injury before completely recovering from an initial head injury.)

Now Ontarians — and nurses in particular — can help honour Stringer and her legacy by ensuring that athletes who play do so safely.

To read more about Rowan’s Law, visit the Government of Ontario’s 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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