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  Publications & Resources > The Standard > June 2004 

 Last modified June 9, 2004  

Why the APF matters

Almost 15 percent of members fail to tell us their employment status (full time, part time or casual). Recently, when the issue of casual nursing labour was seen as a potential factor in the spread of SARS, the information on how many Ontario nurses were actually employed in nursing on a “casual basis” was incomplete.

The information you provide on your Annual Payment Form (APF) becomes a vital part of data the government and other stakeholders need to make accurate and useful decisions that directly affect the nursing profession in Ontario.

Your APF — those two pages of questions about your practice and College registration that arrive in your mailbox every October — is an opportunity for you to influence policies and resources that affect your workplace and profession.

While the APF is the vehicle through which you renew your membership with the College, it is also the only annual census of nurses in the province. The information is published every year in the Membership Statistics Package and is used by stakeholders including government, nursing interest groups and nursing researchers.

The APF asks questions about whether you’re employed in nursing and where you work, your employment status and your education. If you’re employed as a nurse, the APF asks about the type of facility you work in, your position and your primary area of responsibility. Your years of experience are also important, so we collect that too. Then, the information you provide on your APF is combined with that provided by every nurse in the province and is used to present an evolving picture of the Ontario nursing profession.

This information is used throughout the College. For example, the Practice team uses it to determine where education resources should be used, and the Policy team looks for nursing trends that may need further study.

Just as importantly, the data are used far beyond the walls of CNO. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care uses the information when looking at human health resource issues and the supply and demand for nurses in Ontario. Nursing unions and associations often use the data to lobby the government more effectively on your behalf.

Federal agencies take this information and combine it with that from other provinces to construct a national picture of the nursing profession. (In 2002, Ontario nurses represented one-third of the nurses employed in Canada. This makes the data from your APF invaluable to policy planners).

Eliminating the Guesswork

Any discussion of nursing trends in the province — and the nation — is based on the information you provide to the College. Unfortunately, when questions are left blank on the APF it is impossible to get a full picture of where and how the nursing profession is working in Ontario.

In 2003, more than 10 percent of RNs and RPNs failed to provide information on a number of key questions, compounding a problem seen over the last three years. When the response rate is low for a particular question, CNO and stakeholders are left to guess at what the actual number may be. CNO may even declare the category of information invalid, leaving a gap in our information. In the end, it makes it difficult to discuss or respond accurately to the prevailing trends for nursing employment.

An example is the low response rate on the employment status questions — do you work full time, part time or casual? Almost 15 percent of members fail to answer this question. Recently, when the issue of casual nursing labour was seen as a potential factor in the spread of SARS, the information on how many Ontario nurses were actually employed in nursing on a “casual basis” was incomplete.
The College takes the privacy and confidentiality of membership information very seriously. Personal information about individual nurses is protected. It is not provided to anyone outside the College.

When your APF arrives in October, consider it your chance to contribute to policies and decisions that will be positive for the nursing profession. Read the guide and the form carefully, and take the time to complete the form accurately and completely, including the sections on employment and practice information. Your answers can directly influence nursing policy in the province.

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