Ontario gives OK for nursing college to expedite international nurse registration
Posted Sep 7, 2022 04:05:00 PM.
Ontario's minister of health is telling the province's nursing college to go ahead with regulatory changes that could get thousands more internationally trained nurses into practice more quickly.
Sylvia Jones directed the College of Nurses of Ontario last month to develop plans to more quickly register internationally educated professionals as staffing shortages have led to temporary emergency department closures across the province.
Among the college's proposals were allowing internationally trained nurses to be temporarily registered while they go through the process of full registration, and removing a requirement to have practised within the last three years for a non-practising nurse to be reinstated.
Jones has now told the college to draft those amendments to regulations immediately, and once approved by the government, the college should begin registering those nurses right away.
The college has said the changes could potentially help the 5,970 active international applicants currently living in Ontario, but Jones has asked the regulator specifically how many nurses it expects will benefit.
Jones has also given approval to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario for it to create a temporary, three-month registration for physicians licensed in other provinces.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 7, 2022.
The Canadian Press
