More   en français

Publications & Resources > QP

   

Quality Practice

March 2003 - Vol. 2, No. 2

What's Inside This Issue:

[top]

What do you know about Temporary Registration?

If you’re planning on hiring exam-eligible candidates — nurses who are awaiting general class registration — there are some things you need to know about Temporary Registration and the application process.

Temporary Registration is a short-term measure (12 months maximum) to allow nurses to practice at a specific facility while they await general class registration. To be eligible, nurses must meet all the requirements of general class, and need only pass the national registration examination. If the nurse received her/his education outside of Ontario, or you are unsure of her/his eligibility, confirm the nurse’s eligibility before starting the application process by calling the College.

There are four steps for obtaining Temporary Registration:

  1. You, the employer, must complete the Offer of Employment section at the top of the Temporary Registration form and return it to the applicant. This ends your involvement in the process;
  2. The applicant must complete the bottom part of the same Temporary Registration form, and submit it, along with the $50 fee to the College
  3. At the College, the form is reviewed, and, if the applicant is eligible, a Letter of Undertaking and a registration application in the Temporary Class is mailed to the applicant.
  4. The applicant must then sign and submit the Undertaking, complete the registration application, and return both with the $175 registration fee to the College.

The applicant can then be registered in Temporary Class and begin practising.It is the applicant’s responsibility, not yours, to submit the Temporary Registration form. The entire process, Steps 2 to 4, takes 15 business days once all the documentation and fees are received.

Click here to obtain a Temporary Registration fact sheet, which outlines the application process, basic restrictions and limitations for Temporary Class nurses, or obtain the FastFax document #45029 at 1-877-963-7502, or call the College at 416-928-0900, toll-free 1-800-387-5526.

[top]

Has your staff renewed their memberships?

Annual membership renewal is required for all nurses, RNs and RPNs, who practise in Ontario. However, each year, some nurses neglect to renew their memberships. In February, as a reminder, the College sends un-renewed members an Intent to Suspend letter, notifying them that they have 60 days to renew their memberships before suspension.Nurses are still eligible to work until suspended. To avoid suspension, the nurse must submit her/his annual payment form and membership fee, plus late charge, on or before April 22. Once suspended the member can no longer work as a nurse nor use the title RN or RPN.

For institutions that employ a large number of nurses, CNO’s new Automated Annual Verification Member Renewal (AAVR) system offers convenient renewal information. More details on this service are available here.

For readers who subscribe to QP online, watch for a special e-mail update on the AAVR. Subscribe online now!

Employers are responsible for ensuring the nurses they employ are current members of the College. For more information or to confirm membership, please contact the College at 416-928-0900, toll-free in Ontario 1-800-387-5526 or via e-mail cno@cnomail.org.

[top]

Emergency Registration: Planning for Disaster

The College has enhanced its capability to expedite the registration of qualified, out-of-province nurses in the event of an emergency or disaster. The ability to quickly mobilize and register qualified health care professionals from one jurisdiction to another is an essential component of emergency health care planning, and in keeping with the College’s mandate to protect the public.

Recently the Registration Committee approved a Special Assignment Registration Policy to register nurses under exceptional or emergency circumstances. CNO’s Executive Director determines if an exceptional or emergency situation exists.

Registration fees are waived for out-of- province nurses who provide services in an emergency. Emergency registration is for 60 days only. For more information, e-mail cno@cnomail.org, or phone 416-928-0900, toll-free 1-800-387-5526.

[top]

Practice Review a big success

The results are in! Over 80 nurses completed the first Practice Review assessment and 98 percent were successful. That’s great news for nurses, employers, the public and the College.

Practice Review, a key component of the College’s Quality Assurance Program, was launched in January 2002. This mandatory program was designed to provide nurses with confidential, objective feedback on their continuing competence, and direction for professional growth. Of the 100 nurses who were randomly selected, 83 wrote the assessment (17 were deferred due to extenuating circumstances).

The nurses’ feedback focuses on specific areas that may need improvement. This is one way in which the College supports safe, effective and ethical nursing practice in accordance with CNO’s standards of practice.

Practice Review is confidential, only the nurse and CNO know the results. To learn more about Practice Review, read the Quality Assurance — Practice Review fact sheet or by Fastfax (document #44026) at 1-877-963-7502.

[top]

Updates

RN(EC)s get signing authority

Good news for RN(EC)s. At the end of January, the Ontario Disabilities Support Program (ODSP) updated its Health Status Report and Activities of Daily Living forms authorizing RN(EC)s to complete these forms for applicants. Previously, only physicians were allowed to perform this task. This move reflects amendments previously made to the Ontario Disability Support Program Act.

CNO launches new website

It’s here! CNO has redesigned its website. The new design includes an employer section with all information employers need in one easy-to-access place. Check it out at www.cno.org.

QP now available quarterly

Quality Practice is now available four times per year. However, for our online readers, we will be e-mailing special edition updates in between issues.

What? Not an online reader? It’s easy to become one! Send an e-mail to listserv@listserv.cnomail.org. In the body, type “subscribe qp” and your full name (e.g., subscribe qp jane doe). It’s that simple!

[top]

Special Notice: Play it safe with Potassium Chloride

The inadvertent administration of concentrated potassium chloride (KCl) through intravenous routes has caused several client deaths and is a serious safety concern. Vials of KCl closely resemble vials of normal saline and sterile water, and may be used unintentionally to reconstitute a medication or flush an IV line.

To prevent accidental administration, hospitals are urged to remove KCl from nursing units.“The way to prevent tragic deaths from accidental intravenous injection of concentrated KCl is excruciatingly simple — organizations must take it off the floor stock of all units. It is one of the best examples I know of a ‘forcing function’ — a procedure that makes a certain type of error impossible,” says Dr. Lucian L. Leape, Harvard School of Public Health.

To assist with KCl removal, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) Canada has assembled a comprehensive package containing important information such as experiences of other hospitals, sample programs in other countries, and automatic substitutions. KCl removal packages are available to all provincial health care facilities.

For moreinformation see the March 2003 issue of Communiqué. To order a package, go to www.ismp-canada.org, or e-mail a request to kclsupport@ismp-canada.org

[top]

Ask CNO: “Are electronic signatures secure?”

Q: I am a hospital administrator. We have just launched an electronic order entry system
and medication administration record (MAR). Because the system uses
electronic signatures, some nurses are concerned about the validity of the
signatures. What is the College’s position on electronic signatures?

A: Electronic signatures do not necessarily resemble the practitioner’s signature. It is usually the name of the person prescribing or ordering a treatment and can only be used by that person.

Password protection and other security measures protect the signature from unauthorized use. Therefore, these electronic signatures are considered valid when only the authorized user has access to her/his own electronic signature.

You may need to have system support and information available to reassure staff that electronic signatures are secure and can only be used by authorized personnel.

To protect the integrity of your electronic systems, encourage staff to:

  • maintain confidentiality of passwords and other access information;
  • change passwords as per facility policy or more frequently if security is at risk;
  • use passwords that are not easily deciphered;
  • log off when not using the system or when leaving the terminal;
  • locate the terminal in an area that provides privacy and confidentiality; and
  • obtain appropriate education and technical support training.

For more information on electronic health records, please refer to the College’s publication Nursing Documentation Standards (Revised 2002).

[top]

We Can Help

CNO works to support nurses and their employers to provide quality nursing care. Here are a few of the many services we provide.

Visit the Web

Our website at www.cno.org provides a wealth of information for employers. Visit it regularly to keep informed.

Fast Information

Obtain free publications quickly using CNO's FastFax service. Simply dial
1-877-963-7502 on your touch-tone phone and follow the recorded instructions. Within minutes the document will be transmitted to your machine. For a list of the English language documents enter document #43000 when instructed. For French-language documents, enter #53000.

Answering Your Call

Our Customer Service Centre and Practice Consultants answer calls from 0830 hrs until 1700 hrs from Monday to Friday. Call 416-928-0900 (toll-free in Ontario at 1-800-387-5526). Using the automated system, choose your language of preference then select option "0" for Customer Service or option "22" to speak with a Practice Consultant.

Building Quality Practice Settings

The Practice Setting Consultation Program®(PSCP®) assists nurses and their employers to work in partnership as they mutually undertake system improvements within the workplace to create quality settings that support professional nursing practice. Any health care organization that employs nurses and is committed to building a quality work environment can participate. For more information call the PSCP at 1-800-387-6305 or send an e-mail to pscp@cnomail.org. To get a copy of the PSCP fact sheet visit our website, or use the FastFax (document #44021).

Regional Education Network

Help your nurses gain insight into self-regulation and fulfil their Reflective Practice requirements by booking an educational session through the College's Regional Education Network (REN).

The REN was developed to provide nurses, students and employers with an overview of the Quality Assurance Program, as well as a variety of other topics including Documentation and Client Consent.

Sessions are planned for specific groups and individual workplaces on an as-requested basis. There is no restriction on the number of nurses who can attend a session. REN presentations can take place in any health care setting. To book a REN session, contact the co-ordinator for your region.

Complete session listings and contact information for REN coordinators are published in Communiqué, or can be accessed through the FastFax (document #44011) and the website.

[top]

Subscriptions

The College of Nurses of Ontario is the regulatory body for nursing in Ontario. Our mission is to protect the public's right to quality nursing services by providing leadership to the nursing profession in self-regulation.

Quality Practice is available in French and English. You can find back issues of both versions on the College of Nurses of Ontario website at www.cno.org in the publications section.

To get your free e-mail subscription in English, send an e-mail to listserv@listserv.cnomail.org with the words 'subscribe QP (and your first and last name)' in the body of the e-mail.

Pour obtenir un abonnement électronique en français, veuillez envoyer un message électronique à shall@cnomail.org avec « subscribe qp français » (ainsi que vos nom et prénom) dans le texte du message.

To remove your name from our e-mail subscription list send an e-mail to listserv@listserv.cnomail.org with the words 'signoff QP (and your first and last name)' in the body of the e-mail.

E-mail the editor at: qp@cnomail.org.

ISSN 1496-7693

[top]