Human Resources Legislative Update
Nursing Act Amendments, Regulation To Expand Permissible Procedures
Date: September 6, 2011
On August 19, 2011, the Ontario government filed regulatory amendments under the Nursing Act, 1991 that, in part, expand the range of procedures that may be provided by registered nurses who hold an extended certificate of registration in accordance with the regulations.
O. Reg. 387/11 and parallel amendments to the Act will expand the ability of such nurses to provide and communicate a medical diagnosis to patients or their representatives, and permit them to perform certain medical procedures, including:
- procedures below the dermis or mucous membranes;
- prescribing, dispensing, compounding or selling a drug;
- setting or casting a fracture of a bone or dislocation of a joint; and
- the administration of a substance by injection or inhalation.
O. Reg. 387/11, and the amendments to the Act outlined in 18(7) of the Regulated Health Professions Statute Law Amendment Act, 2009, come into force on October 1, 2011.
