Transforming and Supporting Patient Care - Health Professions ...

275Chapter 12 – Profession of NursingNPs 1 work with an expanded scope of practice in the areas of assessment,diagnoses, prescription of tests and treatments and health promotion. 2Nurses work collaboratively with other health professionals in the full rangeof settings, including hospitals, long-term care homes, public health units,correctional facilities, community clinics, workplaces and private practice.They provide a wide range of services to people of all ages along a carecontinuum that spans health promotion to acute, chronic and palliativecare. Many practise in remote communities with limited access to healthcare services.The CNO regulates the practice of nursing in the public interest. Itsregulatory components include developing and implementing standards ofpractice, establishing requirements for entry to practice, administering aquality assurance program and enforcing standards of practice andconduct.Three voluntary professional associations support nurses in Ontario: theRNAO, which represents RNs and NPs; the Registered Practical Nurses’Association of Ontario (RPNAO), which represents RPNs; and the NPAO,which represents NPs.The CNO reports a membership of more than 145,000 RPNs, RNs and NPs. 3As of December 1, 2008, the membership was comprised of 112,985 RNs,34,371 RPNs and 1,118 NPs registered to practice in Ontario. 4Recent Changes to Regulations under the Nursing Act, 1991Changes to regulations under the Nursing Act, 1991 in August 2007introduced three new specialty areas for NPs: paediatrics, adult, andanaesthesia as well as a new title for the primary health care specialty,NP-primary health care (NP-PHC). 5In June 2007, the Health Systems Improvement Act, (2007) amended theNursing Act, 1991 to broaden NP prescribing authority by permitting NPs toprescribe drugs from categories or classes of drugs designated in theregulation under the Act rather than limiting them to lists of individualdrugs. No changes to the regulation under the Act have been made sincethe amendment was adopted.1Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and Registered Nurses in the Extended Class (RN(EC)s) aresynonymous.2College of Nurses of Ontario. Classes of Registration. Available:http://www.cno.org/reg/regclasses.html.3CNO. Submission to HPRAC: Review of Non-Physician Prescribing and Administration of Drugs Underthe Regulated Health Professions Act. November 12, 2008: 1.4CNO. Membership Totals-at-a-Glance. Available: http://www.cno.org/about/stats/totalcurrent.htm.5HPRAC. A Report to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care on the Review of the Scope ofPractice for Registered Nurses in the Extended Class (Nurse Practitioners). March 2008: 9.HPRAC Critical Links January 2009