Registed Nurses' Association of Ontario

Publications & Resources

Glossary

The following are commonly used words at RNAO and their proper spelling. Please note events, toolkits, bills, BPGs, awards, committees, programs, conferences and acts are generally capitalized. All other instances are lowercased.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Abbreviations

A

Action Alert
a master's degree
Annual General Meeting (AGM)
annual report
RNAO's assembly
attending NPs

B

best practice guideline (BPG)
BPG Order Sets
Best Practice Spotlight Organization (BPSO) program
Bill 168
board of directors

C

CEO (OK on first reference for chief executive officer)
cannabis (instead of marijuana)
Canada Health Act
champions
city council
complimentary therapies
Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative/PC/Tory Leader Andrew Scheer
consultation representatives

D

decision-maker
doctor of philosophy (PhD)

E

Editorial Advisory Committee
executive
executive network officer (ENO)

F

full-time work
front line/front lines, but front-line worker

G

H

Health Accord
Health Canada
Health Minister Helena Jaczek
home-care provider
home-care/community-care services, but home care and community care

I

Indigenous people (avoid the term Aboriginal; whenever possible, be specific about the group, people or community)
International Affairs and Best Practice Guidelines Centre (IABPG) Program
interest group or chapter (if you are referring to a specific chapter, please capitalize. For example: Nipissing Chapter)

J

Just Recovery for All

K

L

Legal Assistance Program (LAP)
Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne
Liberal Party of Canada
Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN is also acceptable)
login (n. or adj.), log in (v.)
long-term care (Only use LTC after first reference with acronym)
Long-Term Care Best Practices program
Long-Term Care Best Practice Spotlight Organization (LTC BPSO)

M

master of nursing
member
membership, communications, and information management technology department
Members' Voices
mental health
Mind the safety gap in health system transformation: Reclaiming the role of the RN (Mind the safety gap is also acceptable)
Ministry of Health 
Ministry of Long-Term Care
MP and MPP for member of Parliament and member of provincial Parliament
multimedia
MyRNAO.ca

N

New Democratic Party (NDP)
New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh, but party leader Jagmeet Singh
newsletter
NP-led clinics
north, south, east, west
Nursing Week
Nursing Home Basic Care Guarantee

O

official Opposition, the Opposition New Democrats, the two opposition parties
offloading devices
One member, one vote
Ontario Health Teams
Ontario Liberal Party
Ontario New Democratic Party
Order of Canada

P

panelist
past-president
Parliament Hill
Permanent Education Fund
policy-maker
practice (n. or adj.), practise (v.)
Premier Kathleen Wynne
the premier, the minister of health
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (Ontario PC Party)
professional liability protection

Q

Queen's Park
Queen's Park Day
Queen's Park on the Road (QPOR)

R

Recognition Awards
recruitment rewards
region (but Region 2 is acceptable)
Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (Only use RNAO after first reference with acronym)
registered nurse, nurse practitioner, and nursing student (Only use RN or NP after first reference with acronym)
retired nurse
RNCareers
RN independent prescribing
RNJ not Registered Nurse Journal

S

seventh-annual Nurse Executive Leadership Academy (NELA) (If it is a number higher than nine, please use the number e.g. 10th-annual NELA)
sign up (But use a hyphen when it is an adjective e.g. sign-up sheet)
southern Ontario
Speaking out for nursing, speaking out for health
spring, fall, winter, summer

T

Take Your MPP To Work
teleconference
Toolkit: Implementation of Best Practice Guidelines

U

V

VIANurse program

W

website
well-being
workplace liaison (do not use the acronym WL)
Workplace Liaison Council
Workplace Liaison Program
work-related incident

X

Y

Z

 

Abbreviations

For Canadian provinces and territories, use these abbreviations after the name of a community. If just mentioning the province without a specific community, spell it out in full. (i.e., "The event is in Guelph, Ont." vs. "This is the largest city in Ontario."

Ont.
B.C.
Man.
N.B.
Alta.
N.L.
N.W.T
N.S.
P.E.I.
Que.
Sask.