Ontario Expanding the Role of Nurse Practitioners and Registered Nurses
November 28, 2024
Today, Ontario’s Minister of Health and Deputy Premier, Sylvia Jones announced that starting July 1, 2025, Nurse Practitioners will be able to:
- Order and apply a defibrillator to provide faster care to someone in cardiac arrest.
- Order and apply a cardiac pacemaker to make it faster for people to receive care if their heart isn’t beating regularly.
- Order and perform electrocoagulation, a process to treat skin conditions and legions, such as skin tags, helping people get them removed sooner.
- Certify a death in more circumstances, improving the end-of-life experience for families after the death of a loved one.
Additionally, these scope of practice changes will allow registered nurses to certify a death when the death is expected, helping ensure death registration is completed in a more timely manner while preserving dignity of the deceased for their family.
NPAO applauds the provincial government’s initiative to expand Nurse Practitioners’ scope of practice. These changes represent a necessary shift to enhance our ability to provide timely and comprehensive care across a plethora of practice settings, improving access for all Ontarians. By leveraging the full extent of our training and expertise, Nurse Practitioners can play a crucial role in ensuring a more integrated health system in Ontario.
As the voice of the Ontario’s Nurse Practitioners, NPAO has been an advocate for reducing barriers to ensure full NP scope of practice and role stability by ongoing advocacy with government and healthcare decision makers. This announcement marks a victory from NPAOs advocacy to better integrate NPs in Ontario’s healthcare system. NPAO is committed to continuing its work with the Government of Ontario and the Ministry of Health to ensure patients from across the province can access care quickly and as close to home as possible.
NPAO CEO DR. NP Michelle Acorn, and President NP Barbara Bailey
