Who must complete a Quality Assurance Assessment?

Quality Assurance (QA) Assessment promotes nurses’ continuing competence and helps them improve the quality of their practice.

Each year, CNO randomly selects nurses from the General and Extended classes to participate in a QA Assessment. If you are selected, you will be notified by email with instructions on how to complete the assessment requirements.

Completing a QA Assessment is a legislative accountability for all nurses that helps improve client safety and protect the public. This shared goal is important to all of us, and we thank you for your continued support and dedication to safe nursing practice.

There are two components to QA Assessment. You may be selected to complete either Part A: Knowledge Assessment or Part B: Practice Assessment.

How to complete Part A: Knowledge Assessment

In Part A you’ll review four learning modules and several checklists to help you understand the material. The topics covered are:

  • Quality Assurance
  • Nursing Regulation in Ontario
  • Professionalism in Nursing
  • The Code of Conduct practice standard

You will take a short, open-book multiple-choice quiz on the Code of Conduct practice standard, which is designed to assess your understanding of nursing accountabilities.

In addition to the four learning modules, you will also be required to complete one of the following learning modules:

  • Documentation
  • Professional Boundaries and Nurse-Client Relationships

Note: If you do not complete Part A, the QA Committee may direct you to also complete Part A/B: Practice Assessment.

Getting started

  • Log in to the Maintain Your Membership (MYM) portal with the email and password you use for your annual renewal.
  • Scroll down to QA Assessment and select Complete QA Assessment. This link brings you to a secure website to access the QA platform. Follow the prompts to complete your QA Assessment.
  • Use this guide to help you navigate through the Part A Quality Assurance Assessment process: Part A: Knowledge Assessment Guide

How to complete Part B: Practice Assessment

For Part B: Practice Assessment, you are required to complete the Practice Assessment template, which contains both the learning plan (Section 1) and the Code of Conduct practice activity (Section 2). You must complete and submit both Sections 1 and 2. Nurse Practitioners must also complete a case example.

Use the following resources to support you in successfully completing Part B:

Section 1: Annual learning plan

In Section 1, you need to reflect on your practice and identify areas for continued learning. Based on your practice reflection, you must provide two learning goals in your learning plan.

You can use these resources to help identify learning goals and reflect on your nursing practice:

Here are links to a few examples of learning plans:

Section 2: Code of Conduct practice activity

For Section 2, you need to review and reflect on the Code of Conduct principles and provide two examples from your practice that demonstrate how each principle you selected applies to your practice. Here is an example of a Code of Conduct practice activity:

Nurse Practitioner case example

The NP case example section applies only to NPs who have been selected for QA Assessment: Part B. You will present a case example from your clinical practice that demonstrates your application of the Nurse Practitioner practice standard.  

Here are links to a couple of sample NP case examples:

Use the following resources to help you complete your NP case example:

How to submit your QA Assessment: Part B to SharePoint

A personalized access link to your SharePoint folder has been sent to your email address. You will submit your completed QA Assessment: Part B by adding it to your secure, personal SharePoint folder.

To protect your privacy and security, CNO uses a multi-factor authentication process when you submit QA Assessment activities via SharePoint. The following guides explain how this process works and how to use SharePoint:

If you have questions or require additional assistance for multi-factor authentication or SharePoint, you can contact the CNO Information Security Team at infosec@cnomail.org . Support is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Coaching

Coaching is an optional, supportive way to guide you through your QA Assessment: Part B. You have an opportunity to work directly with a QA Peer Coach to help you understand your learning needs and improve your future practice.

QA Peer Coaches are nurses trained in coaching principles. They also have in-depth knowledge of CNO's practice standards, guidelines and QA Assessment requirements. They will review and assess your QA activities, and write a report to the QA Committee about your submission.

Remedial support

The QA program is a supportive program. At times, nurses require additional support to complete their QA Assessment.

If a QA Peer Coach assesses a nurse as unsatisfactory, the nurse may be directed to complete remedial support activities. This component involves meeting with a QA Peer Coach and completing a written practice reflection.

The purpose of remedial support is to help nurses reflect on and improve their future practice. Self-reflection and using others’ feedback as a learning opportunity is helpful for continuing professional development.

At the meeting, the nurse and Peer Coach will discuss the reflection in more detail to ensure the nurse is practicing safely and competently.

After the process is completed, the Peer Coach will write a report for the QA Committee to review.

Quality Assurance Committee

The QA Committee is one of CNO’s statutory committees. It is made up of elected Council members, members of the public and nurses CNO appoints.

The QA Committee is responsible for ensuring that nurses comply with all aspects of the QA program. It makes decisions about a nurse’s participation by reviewing the QA Peer Coach’s report.

Further information

Questions

If you have questions about the QA Assessment process, contact the QA Program at QAassessment@CNOmail.org or call 416 963-3922, or 1 800 387-5526 (extension 3922).

Thank you for your commitment to upholding nursing accountabilities and patient safety.