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On this page: Our journey | Members leading change | RNAO's partnerships and engagements | RNAO policy | Capacity building | RNAO media
Our journey: Registered Nurses, Clinical Nurse Specialists and RNAO
Registered nurses (RN) led the development of RNAO almost ten decades ago, and have helped shape it into a dynamic professional organization that spans a broad range of interest groups, programs, events and activities. Over the years, RNAO has expanded and evolved, to embrace advanced nursing practice roles such as clinical nurse specialists (CNS), and showcase the remarkable diversity of the nursing profession. There are opportunities for RNs and CNSs across all domains of nursing to find their place at RNAO.
RNAO believes that the leadership of every nurse impacts individual and collective health. RNAO provides several capacity building and professional development opportunities to empower RNs and CNSs to lead change, speak out on emerging issues and embody excellence in nursing practice.
As the earliest adopters of RNAO’s evidence-based best practice guidelines (BPG) and implementation resources, RNs and CNSs harness this knowledge to optimize clinical and management decision-making. They also contribute to RNAO's strong collective voice, speaking out about emerging policy issues impacting nurses, the nursing profession, health and health services. RNs’ and CNSs' voices are vital to RNAO, as it partners with the health system and other stakeholder groups to mobilize change, create healthy work environments and quality health care, and further advance nursing roles for better health outcomes.
“A rich body of evidence from RNAO’s '70 years of RN effectiveness database’ shows that RN care is directly linked to positive outcomes on numerous patient, organizational and financial markers."
Nursing Career Pathways
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In March of 2023, RNAO released its report: Nursing Career Pathways: Opportunities and Barriers. This report examines the nursing profession and the opportunities before the government to build nursing careers and fix Ontario’s health system. It also also highlights the barriers to retaining and recruiting nurses in Ontario – inadequate and inequitable compensation and unsafe and unhealthy workloads – and identifies opportunities for short-term and long-term improvements.
“This report will encourage nurses to reflect on their role and become inspired by their colleagues, their profession, and most importantly, themselves. Our report celebrates all nurses.”
RNAO President
RNAO interest groups
RNAO started out with six interest groups in 1979, and has now expanded to 33 interest groups in 2022, reflecting the vast continuum of nursing. As members of RNAO, RNs can choose to join any of the interest groups. Each of RNAO’s interest groups represents a unique specialty or population within the nursing spectrum, and offers a range of professional resources and supports for members.
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Staff Nurse Interest Group (SNIG)
The Staff Nurse Interest Group (SNIG) represents all regions in Ontario and believes that staff nurses should provide a leadership role during these constant times of transition. There is an acute need for renewal and reinvesting in ourselves and in our profession to improve health care in Ontario. Staff nurses are a valuable resource within our health-care system; we practice with leadership, care and advocacy, and we know we make a difference at the many points of care — homes, hospitals, continuing care, long-term care and community care.
Become an RNAO member to join SNIG
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Lhamo Dolkar
SNIG chair
2019 - present
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Una Ferguson
Past SNIG chair
2011 - 2019
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Paula Manuel
Past SNIG chair
2000 – 2009
Clinical Nurse Specialist Association of Ontario (CNS-ON)
The CNS-ON supports the role of advanced nursing practice in Ontario through professional networking and educational development activities for its members. Among CNS-ON’s goals is the clarification and promotion of the role of advanced nursing practice within the nursing profession and among other health-care professionals, health-care employers, consumers and policy makers.
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Paul-André Gauthier
CNS-ON President
2023 - 2024
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Elsabeth Jensen
Past Provincial Co-President/President of CNS-ON
2011-2012 (then Clinical Nurse Specialist Interest Group), 2012-2015 & 2019-2021
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Rashmy Lobo
Past President of CNS-ON
2021-2022
Become an RNAO member to join CNS-ON
Members mobilizing change
RNAO resolutions 2022
Strengthening Nursing Human Resources in Home and Community
A call for fair and appropriate recognition and compensation for nurses working in the community, relative to other sectors; e.g. comparable compensation; acknowledgement of specialized knowledge and skills; a safe working environment including access to PPE, vaccinations, etc.
Increased support for transition to practice for new nursing graduates
RNAO to advocate to the Ontario government for increased funding for universal nurse residency programs such as but not limited to the Nursing Graduate Guarantee (NGG) program, and the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) Nursing Residency Program for Registered Nurses, to support new nursing graduates’ transition to practice in all practice areas.
RNAO's partnerships and engagements
Joint Provincial Nursing Committee
RNAO is a member of the Joint Provincial Nursing Committee (JPNC), an advisory committee of key nursing organizations and the government of Ontario. RNAO partners with other members of the JPNC to advise the government on issues affecting the nursing profession, as well as on matters of policy and practice that promote the health of Ontarians.
Nurses' Health Program
The Nurses’ Health Program (NHP) is designed to encourage nurses to seek treatment for substance use and/or mental health disorders that may affect their ability to practice nursing safely. The NHP is supported by RNAO, the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO), the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) and the Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario (WeRPN).
Best Practice Spotlight Organizations® (BPSO):
In 2003, the BPSO designation was launched as a key knowledge translation strategy supporting BPG implementation, rapid learning and evidence-based practice sustainability at the individual, organizational and health system levels to optimize clinical and health outcomes. BPSOs have been established provincially, nationally and internationally, in all sectors.
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RNAO’s Nursing Career Pathways Report
A strong and vibrant nursing workforce is the key to a well-functioning health system and a healthy population. To ensure the health and wellbeing of Ontarians, government must dedicate full attention to nursing and provide adequate and sustained funding and supports, argues a new report by the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO).
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Nursing Through Crisis: A Comparative Perspective
RNAO carried out a detailed survey from May to July 2021, during the height of Ontario’s third wave. Responses from 5,200 Canadian nurses, most of them from Ontario, were analyzed and compared with the association’s earlier Work and Wellbeing Survey Results report, as well as with similarly focused national and international surveys that examined the struggles of nurses working throughout the pandemic.
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Letter to the College of Nurses of Ontario regarding international educated nurses
In the midst of Ontario’s worsening nursing crisis, thousands of internationally educated nurses (IEN) living in Ontario remain unable to practise as their applications with the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) languish for years. In a Jan. 24, 2022 letter, RNAO urged the CNO to expedite IEN applicants so they can join Ontario’s nursing workforce.
RNAO nursing Best Practice Guideline (BPG) program
There are several ways to get involved in RNAO’s nursing BPG program, including participating in a Champions Virtual Workshop, becoming a member of a future BPG development panel or a BPG stakeholder reviewer, suggesting a BPG topic, becoming a best practice champion and/or a nurse ambassador, and more.
Best Practice Guidelines
System and Healthy Work Environment
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Preventing Violence, Harassment and Bullying Against Health Workers
Powering practice
This comprehensive database includes studies exploring the effectiveness of RNs on clinical/patient outcomes, organizational/nurse outcomes and financial outcomes over the past 70 years, and can be used for evidence-informed decision making by policy makers, researchers and health-care administrators.
Nursing Quality Indicators for Reporting and Evaluation® (NQuIRE®)
Exclusive to BPSOs, Nursing Quality Indicators for Reporting and Evaluation (NQuIRE) consists of a database of quality indicators derived from recommendations within RNAO’s BPGs. NQuIRE provides a number of benefits for patients, nurses, organizations and health systems.
Leading Change Toolkit™
The Leading Change Toolkit is an online open-access, evidence-informed implementation resource. The toolkit focuses on the uptake and sustainability of knowledge and uses two complementary frameworks (Social Movement Action and Knowledge to Action) to accelerate your success.
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Powering nurses
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Queen's Park on the Road (QPOR)
QPOR enables RNAO members to meet with MPPs to discuss key nursing, health and health-care delivery issues, and influence healthy public policy changes
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Take Your MPP to Work (TYMTW)
Since it began in 2000, TYMTW has grown to become an important political engagement event for RNAO members and MPPs alike. Premiers, cabinet ministers, opposition leaders and numerous MPPs, have gone to work with RNs and NPs in public health units, community health centres, family health teams, NP-led clinics, hospitals, long-term care homes and post-secondary institutions, among others. The event has also successfully taken place virtually amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Queen's Park Day (QPD)
RNAO’s annual QPD provides members of RNAO’s assembly with the opportunity to engage their elected representatives and watch the political process at work. Given the current COVID-19 pandemic, the upcoming QPD meeting will again be held virtually, and we are opening registration to include ALL RNAO members for this virtual event.
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RNAO in the News
RNAO speaks out for nursing and speaks out for health - especially in the media. From print media to radio to broadcast, RNAO advocates for healthy public policy and promotes excellence in the nursing profession.
Read the stories that RNAO has been mentioned in and/or interviewed for.
RNAO staff leading change
Small Talk
RNAO’s Small Talk is a video segment to facilitate conversations about current health-care issues with RNAO members, as well as members of RNAO’s board of directors and assembly of leaders.
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Membership staff share their experiences during the pandemic
Maureen Norton and Cecile Nava from RNAO's membership department speak about their experiences with RNAO members during the pandemic.
Nurses decry Premier Ford's silence on repealing Bill 124
RNAO's Director of Policy Matthew Kellway, RNAO President-Elect Dr. Claudette Holloway, RN Leah Waxman and RNAO CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun speak about the detrimental effects of Bill 124 and Premier Ford's inaction.
Small Talk with RNAO's Christina Medeiros and Robert Mihan
RNAO's Senior Manager of Evaluation and Monitoring, Christina Medeiros, and Membership Retention and Recruitment Coordinator, Robert Mihan speak about the importance and benefits of an RNAO membership.
