To protect the public interest, one of the CNO’s key functions is to develop, establish and maintain standards of practice for nursing.

When CNO develops a standard, we take several factors into account:

  • nursing practice
  • laws and government policy
  • societal and health care context
  • public confidence
  • CNO Council and committees
  • CNO registrants and system partners

A number of principles guide the development process. The standard must:

  • have an explicit purpose that aligns with CNO’s public interest mandate
  • be clear and easily understood
  • be relevant to nursing practice and reflect the generally accepted practice of a competent nurse
  • be reliable and contribute to public protection
  • be flexible and apply to nurses working in different settings and roles
  • provide a benchmark for the level of performance of a competent nurse
  • outline the factors to use to assess and measure performance

Development process

Developing standards is not a linear process. Different activities can occur in a number of phases at once. It is also common to move back and forth among phases.

Phases of development

Diagram titled ‘Phases of Development’ with a central dark-blue box linked to six surrounding light-blue boxes. The surrounding boxes are labeled: Exploration; Research and Analysis; Development; Monitoring and Evaluation; Knowledge Sharing and Implementation; and Approval.

Exploration

Continually scan the health care environment to identify actual or potential risks to the public interest linked to nursing practice.

Research & analysis

Investigate risks and how they can be addressed by collecting comprehensive information including:

  • environmental scanning
  • CNO data
  • professional networking
  • literature, documents and jurisprudence reviews
  • consultation with nurses, members of the public and system partners

Development

Develop standards based on the best available evidence, with input from members of the public and extensive consultation with nurses, system partners and experts.

Approval

Submit the standards to CNO Council for approval.

Knowledge sharing & implementation

Publish standards and communicate information about them to nurses and other interested parties.

Monitoring & evaluation

Use various sources of information to ensure the standards achieve their intended purpose and stay relevant to public protection over time.