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Publications & Resources > The Standard > March 2006

   Last modified: March 2006

President's Message

Get to Know Your College

I am continually impressed with the client-advocacy and system-navigator skills that I see in my fellow nurses. Whether they’re assessing unstable clients, helping a frightened family member or mentoring a nurse who is new to an area (such as myself), nurses consistently impress me with the conscientious care they give clients and the support they offer colleagues.

I am equally amazed at how little these wise professionals know about navigating within their own regulatory college. I hear nurses talk about “losing their licence” without knowing how infrequently or in what circumstance revocation of registration occurs, and without having a solid understanding of when they’re encroaching on the limits of their professional boundaries. Why do we allow ourselves to perpetuate misinformation, worry and fear? We would never allow our clients to worry unnecessarily.

In advocating for ourselves, it is important to know when we are being asked to do things that are outside our legislated scope of practice or beyond our own personal knowledge, skill and judgment. Generally speaking, I don’t think that nurses know what a resource they have at the College in helping them understand and respond to these issues.

Navigating through your regulatory college can be easy if you know where to look. In this issue of The Standard, you’ll read about the Knowledge Translation Fellowship, a fine example of how the College continues to hone and enhance its ability to reach nurses in meaningful ways. And for questions about professional boundaries, check out the newly minted practice standard Decisions About Procedures and Authority, passed by Council in September and available on the website. Take a look at the College website (www.cno.org) for a wealth of information, including the new interactive Learning Centre that provides short informative sessions on practice standards.

As you read this edition of The Standard, it may be March Break for your young family. You might be working through the holiday and wishing you were somewhere else. I think I know how you feel. As I write this message, it’s late December and, since I’m the low man on the ICU totem pole (I returned to direct care in June 2005), I am working through the holiday season.

As much as I miss being with my family, I must admit that the camaraderie and challenges at work are enjoyable. Even after more than 25 years of nursing, my colleague Donnalynn commented on how proud and honoured she is to be a nurse. Another ICU nurse, Linda, said that nursing has given her the lifestyle and flexibility she needs for herself and her family. As much as nursing is a challenging profession, it is also a rewarding one. And it’s gratifying to know that nurses have earned the public trust, and thus have been granted the privilege to regulate themselves. Holiday or not, some of us are glad to be exactly where we are, at exactly this time of year, doing exactly what we’re doing.

Sandra Keating, RN
President

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