What is a Nursing Standard?

A nursing standard is a statement that describes how a member of the nursing profession must conduct their nursing practice. Every registered nurse, licensed practical nurse and registered psychiatric nurse is required to meet nursing standards of practice set by the regulatory nursing organizations.

The reasons why professional standards are required in nursing practice include:

• they provide a foundation for evaluation of individual performance. This would include both self evaluation and performance appraisal at work.


• they guide professional efforts directed toward improving the profession.


• education programs use the standards of professional nursing practice as a guide in designing and implementing curriculum. All nursing education programs must be able to prove that they are preparing graduates to meet the professional standards set by the province.


• they provide the public with an understanding of what should be expected as the minimal level of performance from members of the nursing profession.

The final and most significant reason for having standards to define how nursing practice should occur is that they provide the foundation for disciplinary investigations.

When a complaint about an individual nurse's practice is received at the regulatory authority, an investigation is started. If the investigation proves that the nurse did not practice in accordance with the required nursing standards of practice in that province, then the nurse can be disciplined in a variety of ways including losing the license to practice altogether or having certain limits and condition placed on continuing practice.

A nursing standard is different from ethical guidelines and different yet again from the nightingale pledge which is often recited by nursing classes at graduation (but was not written by Florence Nightingale).

Go from this page on A Nursing Standard to The Nightingale Pledge revised for contemporary nursing practice in Canada.

Go to the page on the Ethical Code for Nursing Practice in Canada.

What is a Nursing Standard? - The purpose and foundational assumptions of nursing standards of practice in Canada.

Nursing Standards of Practice- Established under a regulatory mandate, standards of professional nursing practice are established and enforced by the regulatory nursing organizations in each province. Common nursing standard categories are explained.

Standards of Professional Nursing Practice- Links to each of the provincial nursing organizations official document for standards of professional nursing practice.