Health workforce scopes of practice

Key links

Data tables: Health Workforce Scopes of Practice, 2021 — Data Tables (XLSX)

Infographics: Legislated scopes of practice across Canada

Media contact:

hhr@cihi.ca

August 4, 2022 — Optimal use of the health workforce is essential for managing the increasing demand for services as Canada’s health care systems recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. A clear understanding of what different health care professionals are authorized to do (i.e., scopes of practice) is necessary to better inform planning around resource use and efficient models of care. The overall scopes of practice for regulated health care professionals are often stated in provincial/territorial legislation. However, the scope of an individual health care professional is influenced by many factors including client needs, individual competence, employer policies, and professional and regulatory standards.

This release presents the status of legislated scopes of practice for registered nurses (RNs), registered psychiatric nurses (RPNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) in Canada’s provinces and territories as of December 2021.

The list of scopes may represent a subset of all activities that these health care professionals may perform in their respective practices. For example, RPNs can perform activities to provide care for complex psychosocial, mental or emotional disorders and associated or comorbid physiological conditions.

Data on scopes of practice for nurse practitioners is excluded and will be added in a future release. Future releases of this product will also include additional types of health care professionals and may integrate data beyond legislated scopes.

For more information regarding collection and comparability of data, refer to Health Workforce Scopes of Practice, 2021 — Interpretive Notes (PDF).

Key findings

There is notable variation in what RNs, RPNs and LPNs are authorized to do across jurisdictions.
- For example, in recent years, some provinces have broadened the RN scope of practice to include prescribing. As of December 2021, 6 provinces allow RNs with additional education and training to prescribe pharmacotherapy, while in the remaining provinces it is out of scope.
Several activities can be performed by multiple nurse types; however, the complexity of a client’s condition influences the knowledge required to provide the level of care the client needs.
Some nurse types have specialized training and education.
- While all nurses in jurisdictions with available data are authorized to perform mental health and substance use screenings, RPNs have specialized training and education on these activities.

Featured resources

Compare scopes of practice data

Check out the interactive and downloadable data tables on health workforce scopes of practice across Canada. Data is available by jurisdiction and type of profession.

Data tables(XLSX)