Reports > Professional Practice

Professional Practice Report

June 2011

C.N.A. Groups and Affiliates

CNA associate and affiliate members, and emerging groups represent 43 national nursing associations and 40,951 members. This includes 16,242 CNA-certified Registered Nurses representing 19 different specialties/areas of practice or interest.

The C.N.A. has spent much time this year trying to sort out how the affiliate and associate members keep statistics on how many of their members are RNAO members, how many hold their specialty certification and how many are registered with C.N.A. These are difficult stats to obtain as it is dependant on members completing this information on registration forms. So the data on this is incomplete or not accurate. As well, through the use of surveys C.N.A. has gathered information on how the groups are managing to recruit and retain members over the years. The gist of gathering this information is to assist the various interest groups in maintaining their status with C.N.A and to help the groups continue to grow.

Three Resolutions are to be taken to the C.N.A.s BOD meeting in Ottawa June 20–24, 2012. These include:

Resolution #1. Specialized Knowledge & Practice of Registered Nurses Essential to the Health of Canadians

C.N.A would like to work with the Affiliate and Associate groups (AAE Network) to develop a national strategy to:

  • Promote the unique contribution of Registered Nurses with specialized knowledge and skills in Canada as represented through the AAE Network; and
  • Highlight the impact of the unique specialized knowledge and skills amongst Registered Nurses within the AAE Network, on patient outcomes, the Canadian healthcare system outcomes and on the improvement of the overall health and well being of people living in Canada.

Resolution #2. Specialized Knowledge & Skills of Registered Nurses: Protection of Valuable Resources

CNA, in collaboration with the AAE Network, jurisdictional representatives and other appropriate parties develop a national advocacy strategy to:

  • Demonstrate that the contributions of Registered Nurses with specialized knowledge and practice, when part of an appropriate nursing staff mix model, can yield overall cost savings to the Canadian healthcare system while improving client outcomes and safety;
  • Position Registered Nurses with specialized knowledge and practice as a key leader within the interprofessional healthcare team;
  • Promote a national standardized framework for decision-making for the selection of alternate models of care for healthcare agencies considering replacement of Registered Nurses with specialized knowledge and skills with lesser-skilled, different-skilled workers or alternate care providers;
  • Develop a communication strategy and key messaging regarding the replacement of Registered Nurses with specialized knowledge and skills with lesser-skilled, different-skilled workers or alternate care providers;
  • Ensure Registered Nurses with specialized knowledge and skills retain authority and accountability for the coordination and planning of patient/client care, which includes the responsibility to appropriately assign/supervise and/or delegate other alternate care providers to safely and legally provide care within their scope of practice or scope of employment;
  • Lobby federal and/or provincial/territorial governments, as appropriate, to establish policies and or legislation to maximize and protect the role of Registered Nurses with specialized knowledge and skills within identified practice settings and models of care.

Resolution #3. Building the Capacity of the Associate, Affiliate & Emerging Group Network

C.N.A. in collaboration with its associate and affiliate members and emerging groups continue to support and work with the AAE Network to build the capacity of the existing AAE Network infrastructure for the purpose of strengthening the collective voice of the AAE Network within the body of CNA and to:

  1. Engage individual Registered Nurses with specialized knowledge and skills in serving the public interest by advocating for healthy public policy and a quality healthcare system and by tangibly improving health outcomes for patients/clients across all areas of the healthcare system;
  2. Leverage the specialized knowledge and skill that exists with CNA associations and their membership to help advance the practice of nursing and promote nursing excellence (ex. secretariat, exchange and development of best practices);
  3. Support the Governance of each association to enhance their effectiveness, help strengthen nursing leadership and build nursing leadership capacity within Canada;
  4. Facilitate the collaboration within and between associations and between the AAE Network and the CNA to unify a nursing voice across Canada; and
  5. Review the Renewing Our Future Together (CNA, 2002) document as a foundation to future collective action.

The fact that the AAE Network has no voting privileges at the BOD level within the C.N.A. will be addressed and a means of developing a strategy for having one or more AAE Network representatives who have voting privileges sit on the BOD for C.N.A will discussed.

CNA Certification

The Neuroscience Specialty exam celebrated its 20th year this year. There are four CANN members who have held their specialty for the full 20 years and they were recognized at the AGM and Scientific Sessions in Vancouver. They are Lynn Joseph (ON); Wendy Morrison (BC); Barbara Taugher (QC) and Janice Kenney (NB)

Of the nurses who applied for and wrote the Neurosciences Specialty exam in April 2011, 35 were successful. In average over the years, 80% of all candidates are successful in our specialty. C.N.A is not allowed to disclose the numbers of nurses who apply to write, and can only tell us the numbers of successful candidates. In 2009 there were 39 successful candidates and in 2010 there were 36.

Out of the 56 whom where due to re-certify in 2011 36 did. This is 64% of the group.

A Certification Review was held on June 7, 2011 as an afternoon pre-conference session at the CANN AGM and Scientific Sessions in Vancouver. As you may recall this was a new endeavour to support neuroscience nurses who wish to pursue certification, and ran for the first time in Quebec City 2011. There were 6 speakers lined up to present during this session. 9 to 11 people registered or had indicated they would be attending this session, and not one individual did. This pre-conference day will be re-evaluated at the mid-year BOD meeting in Montreal in January 2012 after a survey of our Executive members regarding this afternoon session is sent out and feedback obtained.

Bursaries and Scholarships

There was only one applicant for the Jessie Young Certification Award this year. The award has been presented to Jessica Milley from Newfoundland. Jessica is a staff RN at the Health Science General Hospital in St. John’s.

There were no applicants for the Jessie Young Continuing Education Award.

A new Jessie Young Abstract Award has been created this year and the funding for the Lynn Baldwin Award has been depleted so this award no longer exists.

These awards are available to any CANN member, and the application deadline is April 1st of each year. The descriptions and the applications for these awards can be found on the CANN website and can be forwarded to the Professional Practice Chair directly or via your local chapter councillor.

WFNN

Another quiet year and no news to report from this group. The website is http://www.wfnn.nu and does not appear to be up to date. The next Annual Meeting will be held in China in May 2012.

Strategic Planning

Our Professional Standards of Practice are updated every two years. They were reviewed for the BOD meeting in Vancouver 2011 and it appears that the references will need to be updated prior to re-print in 2012.

With regard to our Strategic Plan, all of the previous goals have been achieved and have been noted as so, and a few new goals have been identified and will be added and followed up on.

Respectfully Submitted
Melodie Mortensen
Professional Practice, CANN
June 2011


View previous Professional Practice reports