ONA to the CNO: Rethink your new policy eliminating telephone support

Dear ONA,

I wanted to express my concerns to my fellow ONA members regarding the College of Nurses of Ontario’s new policy that eliminates telephone support for nurses asking practice questions (its Practice Line) and instead provides email responses only.

I find this new policy, called “Practice Support,” worrisome for a number of reasons:

• The ability to call and ask a question anonymously is no longer possible.
• The CNO now links your email to your registration, so it will have all your information when you ask a question.
• The response time is appalling, meaning nurses cannot receive immediate advice/assistance.

While the CNO says nurses will receive a response within three business days, I have been told by my members that four days – or more – can pass before a response is provided.

• You cannot speak directly to a consultant from your category (i.e. NP, RN, RPN).
• The CNO says the new service will not provide nurses any opinion on a practice scenario.

If this service is only sending links to the CNO’s practice standards and guidelines, it is not worthy of being called Practice Support. It is a “librarian,” plain and simple.

While I am told this policy is a trial only, I am troubled about the lack of concrete information surrounding it. I believe it will be a huge deterrent for nurses to ask questions or seek clarification about their practice – and we need to speak up!

Sue Sommerdyk, RN
Windsor Regional Hospital Bargaining Unit President (Local 8)

Our President Responds…

Thank you for your letter, Sue. You are spot on with your concerns, and we have heard the same from many nurses.

The CNO says it is committed to enhancing transparency, but ONA believes there is nothing transparent about abruptly closing its Practice Line – although I understand it was not giving out advice, but simply referring callers to a standard anyway. ONA also does not believe the CNO’s new “send a link support” is “an innovative way to support your practice.”

It is clear that the CNO is not willing to address scope and work environment issues, which may lead to nurses not fulfilling our standards of practice. It says “this is political,” I would suggest it is not political when our members are begging for advice/direction and all we receive is an email referring us back to documents we can read online.

The CNO’s motto, we are here to protect the public, should mean it is able to support us in our practice so we are safe practitioners and thereby protecting the public.

We need your help. The CNO says it welcomes your feedback on this policy, so let’s tell them what we think! Please contact the College Council at cnocouncil@cnomail.org and ask them to rethink their lack of support for nurses in Ontario by not providing any relevant advice and direction on our practice issues.

We need to get loud about our professional practice for the benefit of our patients, residents and clients!

Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN
ONA President

Please contact the College of Nurses of Ontario Council at cnocouncil@cnomail.org and ask them to rethink their lack of support for nurses in Ontario by not providing any relevant advice and direction on our practice issues.