Sylvia Jones asked the College of Nurses of Ontario last month to develop plans to speed up the registration of internationally trained professionals as staffing shortages led to temporary closures of emergency departments across the province. Among the college’s proposals was to allow internationally trained nurses to register provisionally while they go through the full registration process, such as completing training and exams. It also proposed making it easier for about 5,300 non-practitioner nurses living in Ontario to return to the workforce if they choose. Current rules say a nurse must have practiced for the past three years to be reinstated, but that could be removed. Jones has now told the college to draft these amendments to the regulations immediately. Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones asked the College of Nurses of Ontario last month to develop plans to speed up the registration of internationally trained professionals as staffing shortages led to temporary closures of emergency departments across the province. (Evan Mitsui/CBC) “I expect that if these amendments are approved by the government, that the college will immediately begin enrolling both (internationally educated nurses) and other applicants who will benefit from these changes,” he wrote to them in a letter obtained by The Canadian. Type. The college said the changes could potentially help the 5,970 active international applicants currently living in Ontario, but Jones asked the regulator specifically how many nurses it expects to benefit. The nursing college had also said that with provisional registrations, it could change the rules to revoke a provisional certificate only after two failed exam attempts, instead of the one attempt that nurses are currently allowed. On that measure, the ministry said it would rely on the college’s expertise on exactly what should be included in the regulatory amendments it is now drafting. Temporary registered nurses must be supervised by a registered practical nurse, registered nurse or nurse practitioner.
The College is calling on the Government to do more
A spokesperson for the College of Nurses of Ontario said the regulatory body looks forward to working with the ministry and is encouraged that Jones recognized his advice for long-term solutions. In its response to Jones last month, the college called on the government to do more to provide international nurses with more training opportunities. Jones responded that she asked the ministry to work with the college and other health system partners on this. Claudette Holloway, president of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, welcomed the minister’s response and also urged the government to work on a long-term recruitment and retention strategy. “We are glad to hear that there is action to speed up the process for our internationally trained nurses,” she said in an interview. “We’ve been asking for this for some time and many of them have been waiting years to be processed. We desperately need them in Ontario on the front lines to address the nursing shortages we have.” The health minister also gave approval to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) to create a temporary, three-month registry for doctors licensed in other provinces. This college had also highlighted to the minister the need for practical off-the-shelf assessments, which would allow internationally trained doctors to be rapidly assessed over a 12-week period of supervision and direct observation. Such programs are already in use in seven other provinces and are designed to develop physicians in underserved communities and provide a pathway to licensure, the college wrote to the minister. “The CPSO urges the government to take immediate action to implement a PRA program for Ontario,” the college wrote. “With government funding and coordination between key system partners, a program could be implemented immediately and the injection of a new supply could begin [internationally educated physicians] in the system from spring 2023 onwards”. Jones replied that the ministry was “looking carefully at the idea”.
