SCOPE OF NURSING 1.

Explore the scope of Nursing Informatics and its implication for health policy and information handling activities associated with evidence based nursing practice, nursing management, nursing research, nursing education, standards and patient (or client) decision making and the various relationships with other health care informatics entities. Initiative underway to develop National Nursing Quality Report (NNQR-C). Nationally funded effort to develop consensus on key nursing quality indicators across all provincial and territorial jurisdictions. Working collaboratively with COACH (Canadas Health Informatics Organization) to advance clinician engagement. Participating in COACH Advisory for the advancement of e Health Safety. 2. Identify priorities or gaps and make recommendations for future developments in Nursing Informatics. Identification of need to link standardized clinical outcomes to nursing interventions and best practice guidelines; Creating database of Nursing Quality Indicators for Reporting and Evaluation (NQuIRE) 3. Support the development of Nursing Informatics in member countries and promote Nursing Informatics worldwide. Contributing to the further advancement of ICNP through the C-HOBIC data mapping efforts; 4. Promote linkages and collaborative activities with national and international nursing and healthcare informatics groups and nursing and health care organisations globally. Active representation on Canada Health Infoway, through Nursing Reference Group, Standards Collaborative and clinical standards working group; Canadian Health Outcomes for Better Information and Care (C-HOBIC) advancing adoption of standardized clinical outcomes reflecting nursing practice in clinical information systems. 5. Provide, promote and support informatics meetings, conferences, electronic communication forums to enable opportunities for the sharing of ideas, developments and knowledge Host country for 11th International Congress on Nursing Informatics, June 2012, Montreal, PQ National Nursing Informatics conference planned for 2013 Inspire net Educational initiative based out of British Columbia, offering informatics forum and educational sessions for nurses across Canada; Nursing Informatics webinar education series offering launched 2012.

6. To participate in IMIA working group and special interest groups to present a nursing perspective. Canadian Nursing Informatics Association (CNIA) active nationally and has several chapters within provinces and territories; National Board represents all provinces and territories; CNIA representative to IMIA-NI 7. Develop recommendations, guidelines, tools and courses related to Nursing Informatics. Expert Panel led development of Informatics Educator Resource for the Registered Nurses of Ontario, Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing developed national core informatics competencies for graduate nurses nationally endorsed, April 2012. Launch of national faculty award for advancement and creative integration of informatics in core nursing Curricula 8. Encourage the publication and dissemination of research and development materials in the field of Nursing Informatics Support and encouragement of participation in NI 2012 Call for Nursing Informatics theory and research papers for July 2012, Canadian Journal of Nursing Research Online Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics, published quarterly 9. To support and work with patients, families, communities and societies to adopt and manage informatics approaches to healthcare. Nurses engaged in numerous cross-country initiatives related to patient portals and consumer informatics 10. Ensure the group is more visible by providing up to date information on the web site enabling external groups e.g. WHO, ICN to access as required. Link to IMIA-NI from CNIA website REFERENCE: IMIA-NI Representative Annual Report CANADA 2012 (Lynn Nagle, RN, PhD, 2012) In Canada all nursing professions are regulated in the public interest and must pass a licensing exam to become registered in order to practice nursing as a career. Nursing education for each of these types of nursing has common curricular components and some specialty components. However, the length of nursing education varies and each category has a defined scope of practice.

A nursing scope of practice statement defines the boundaries of professional practice for
all types of nursing. Scope of practice statements form the foundation for nursing curriculum, nursing standards of practice and nursing job descriptions. A scope of practice statement is not a statement of exclusivity and is not protected. Other

professionals are not excluded from performing the same activities listed in a scope of practice statement. It is title that is protected not the scope of practice. Since there are three different types of nursing in Canada a scope of practice statement becomes important in differentiating the roles and responsibilities of the various types of nursing practice. Three types of nursing if you are considering nursing as a career in Canada:

A. Licensed Practical Nurse

The Licensed Practical Nurse has 1-2 years of education in a community college or private post-secondary training institute. They have a limited nursing scope of practice that is completely contained within the scope of practice of a registered nurse and cannot work with clients who are complex or require multiple interventions. In Ontario and some other provinces they are called a Registered Practical Nurse and this is abbreviated as RPN. This can be confusing because a registered psychiatric nurse is also abbreviated as RPN in the western provinces. In many provinces LPN's were not fully utilized for many years and the numbers of nurses practicing as a licensed practical nurse declined dramatically. Because of the pressures exerted by fiscal restraint and by the nursing shortage which is quite acute, the licensed practical nurse is now in demand again in provinces where they can legally practice. In all provinces the scope of practice of a licensed practical nurse is wholly contained within the scope of practice of a registered nurse. The LPN (or RNA - registered nursing assistant) in Canada practices nursing under the legal definition of nursing but works under a narrower nursing scope of practice than the registered nurse.There is nothing in the scope of practice of an LPN that is outside of the scope of the registered nurse. B. Registered Psychiatric Nursing
Schools that prepare nurses to enter psychiatric nursing are limited to the four

western provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. There are over 5,000 Registered Psychiatric Nurses registered with the 4 regulatory authorities in these provinces.
Registered Psychiatric Nursing is not recognized as a separate type of nursing in the

eastern provinces so that might be why they call practical nurses RPN's (Registered Practical Nurses). This term cannot be used in the western provinces because it already used for psychiatric nurses.
The association of Registered Psychiatric Nurses of Canada recommends that the

minimum requirement for initial registrants for entry to practice into the profession of psychiatric nursing should be a baccalaureate degree by the year 2012.

 In Alberta, other registered psychiatric nursing are employed by:

Community mental health programs and clinics (suppoet services for persons who have disabilities o chemical dependencies, crisis services and suicide prevention programs) Residential care facilities Acute care, extended care, long term care or palliative care facilities Educational institutions Correctional institutuions

C. Registered Nursing
Registered nursing (the RN) is the most common type. It is typically the registered nurse that people think of when they think of the nursing profession. Registered nursing has the broadest nursing scope of practice. When these new regulations are put in place, under certain circumstances the registered nurse will be able to provide a broader range of services than that provided by the current regulations including: ordering ultrasound or X-ray diagnostics (in triage situations) conducting tuberculosis screening managing labor in hospital when the primary care provider is absent These changes recognize the current education and skills of the registered nurse. However, the changes are specific to British Columbia as the nursing profession in Canada is regulated provincially. It is quite possible and quite likely however, that other provinces will follow suit.