How are nurse practitioners regulated? How is public safety ensured?
All nurses are regulated by the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO), the regulatory body for nursing in Ontario. The CNO sets the criteria for becoming a nurse in Ontario and the standards of practice that must be met to maintain registration. The CNO’s mandate is to protect the public’s right to quality nursing services . RNs who meet the CNO criteria and register in the “extended class” have the legal authority to independently perform a number of authorized acts beyond those that registered nurses are permitted to perform. These additional acts include ordering certain diagnostic tests (e.g., X-rays, lab tests, ultrasounds), communicating a diagnosis to patients, and prescribing certain drugs.
