September 30, 2024

CNO launches redesigned website

CNO is pleased to announce the launch of our redesigned website. Our website is a critical source of information for many in the health care system, and ensuring it works optimally helps us to promote safe nursing practice. 

CNO launches redesigned website

CNO is pleased to announce the launch of our redesigned website. Our website is a critical source of information for many in the health care system, and ensuring it works optimally helps us to promote safe nursing practice. 

When developing the new site, we made sure it was easy to use and understand for everyone. This means that nurses, applicants, members of the public, nurse employers and all our partners in safety can continue to access the information they need quickly and easily. 

“The website is often the first point of contact people have with CNO,” said Floyd Garvey, the director of information technology at CNO. “It’s exciting to offer a more refined experience for those who visit cno.org. The new site has been thoughtfully redesigned to prioritize accessibility, responsiveness across different devices, and enhanced search capabilities.” 

To ensure the re-designed website would be accessible and provide a barrier-free experience for everyone, we worked with experts in web design and accessibility optimization to develop a website completely compliant with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005. We are committed to ongoing audits to ensure it remains up to date with all users’ needs.  

Other updates to the new site include a clean and open design, the option to identify yourself (for example, as a nurse, or as a student, etc.) to see the content most relevant to you, and the ability to search and sort through news items to find current information more easily. The new site is also fully responsive to display correctly on any device, since most people now visit cno.org using a cell phone. 

Return to cno.org often to read informative, heartfelt and interesting stories about nurses and the nursing profession, as well as the most up-to-date information about changes to nursing practice.  


About CNO

The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) is the regulator of the nursing profession in Ontario. It is not a school or a nursing association. CNO acts in the public interest by:

  • assessing qualifications and registering individuals who want to practice nursing in Ontario.
  • setting the practice standards of the profession that nurses in Ontario are expected to meet.
  • promoting nurses' continuing competence through a quality assurance program.
  • holding nurses accountable to those standards by addressing complaints or reports about nursing care.

The College was founded in 1963. By establishing the College, the Ontario government was acknowledging that the nursing profession had the ability to govern itself and put the public's well-being ahead of professional interests.

For the latest information, please see our Nursing Statistics page.

Anyone who wants to use a nursing-related title — Registered Nurse (RN), Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) or Nurse Practitioner (NP) must become a member of CNO.

Frequently Asked Questions

Go to the public Register, Find a Nurse, to conduct a search for the nurse. Contact us if you can't find the person you are looking for.

All public information available about nurses is posted in the public Register, Find a Nurse, which contains profiles of every nurse in Ontario. Publicly available information about nurses include their registration history, business address, and information related to pending disciplinary hearings or past findings.

Unregistered practitioners are people who are seeking employment in nursing or holding themselves out as being able to practice nursing in Ontario, but who are not qualified to do so. They are not registered members of CNO. Only people registered with CNO can use nursing-related titles or perform certain procedures that could cause harm if carried out by a non-registered health professional. CNO takes the issue of unregistered practitioners seriously. See Unregistered Practitioners for more information.

To ensure procedural fairness for both the patient (or client) and the nurse, the Regulated Health Professions Act requires that information gathered during an investigation remain confidential until the matter is referred to the Discipline Committee or Fitness to Practise Committee. CNO will not disclose any information that could identify patients (or clients) or compromise an investigation. See Investigations: A Process Guide for more information.

Information obtained during an investigation will become public if the matter is referred to a disciplinary hearing. If a complaint is not referred to a hearing, no information will be available publicly.

See CNO's hearings schedule, which is updated as hearing dates are confirmed. Hearings at CNO are open to the public and the media. For details on how to attend a hearing, contact the Hearings Administration Team.

A summary of allegations and the disciplinary panel outcomes can be found on the public Register, Find a Nurse. Full decisions and reasons are also available.

Where a disciplinary panel makes a finding of professional misconduct, they have the authority to reprimand a nurse, and suspend or revoke a nurse's registration. Terms, conditions and limitations can also be imposed on a nurse's registration, which restricts their practice for a set period. Nurses can also be required to complete remedial activities, such as reviewing CNO documents and meeting with an expert, before returning to practice.

For detailed information see the Sexual Abuse Prevention section.

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