Standards of Profession Nursing Practice in Canada

The standards of professional nursing practice in Canada are set and enforced by the provincial nursing organizations under the framework of nursing laws that regulate the nursing profession in each of the 13 provinces and territories.

You can link to each of the official documents that list the nursing standards of practice for each province in Canada.

Some of these documents also contain the nursing competencies for entry level practice in that province. If the nursing competencies are not in the same document they will definitely be in the same section of the website.

Province	Link to standards of professional nursing practice
British Columbia CRNBC College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia	Professional Standards Jun 2008
Alberta CARNA College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta	Nursing Practice Standards Nov 2005
Saskatchewan SRNA Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association	Standards and Foundation Competencies for the Practice of Registered Nurses March 2007
Manitoba CRNM College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba	Standards of Practice for Registered Nurses July 2009
Ontario CNO College of Nurses of Ontario	Professional Standards revised 2002
New Brunswick NANB Nurses Association of New Brunswick	Standards of Practice for Registered Nurses Jan 2005
Nova Scotia CRNNS College of Registered Nurses of Nova Scotia	Standards for Nursing Practice Jan 2004
Prince Edward Island ARNPEI Association of Registered Nurses of Prince Edward Island (ARNPEI)	ARNPEI Standards For Nursing Practice March 1999
Newfoundland and Labrador ARNNL Association of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador	Standards for Nursing Practice April 2007
Northwest Territories RNANTNU Registered Nurses Association of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut	Standards of Nursing Practice for Registered Nurses Aug 2006
Yukon YRNA Yukon Registered Nurses Association	Standards of Registered Nursing Practice in the Yukon 2008 adapted from the standards of professional nursing practice in British Columbia

The nursing labor union and standards of professional nursing practice

Nursing standards of practice are created in the public interest. The nursing labor union acts in the interest of its members and is not involved in either setting or enforcing professional standards.

However, the nursing union may use the standards set by the regulatory nursing organization in bargaining efforts to secure working conditions that improve the ability of their members to meet all professional standards.

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.

Go to the the article on labor unions.

Go from this list of nursing organizations to a list of labor unions representing registered nurses in Canada.

All provincial nursing education programs prepare nurses to write the same nursing entrance test based on the national set of entry level competencies. Even though there might be some variation in the nature of nurses work from province to province there should be more similarity than disparity across the country.