Minimum Education / Qualifications
All Nurse Practitioners (NP) shall possess, as a minimum:
- A Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing from a recognized university
- Successful completion of a Nurse Practitioner Program approved or recognized by the provincial regulatory authority with a specialty certificate in either Nurse Practitioner – Adult (NP-Adult) or Nurse Practitioner – Primary Health Care (NP-PHC). In some provinces, a Master Degree in Nursing with a Nurse Practitioner stream is required
- Unrestricted licence and in “good standing” with the provincial or territorial regulatory body in the province/territory of practice
- A Certificate of BLS for Healthcare Provider or equivalent such as Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation/Automated External Defibrillator CPR/AED Level C
- A Master Degree in Nursing, or in the jurisdictions where a Master Degree is not a requirement to be a NP then it can be considered an Asset Qualification
- Been fit-tested for an N-95 (or equivalent) mask in the last two years or sooner, if a change in physiognomy occurs that may affect efficacy of determined size to wear
Minimum Experience
The NP shall possess, as a minimum, one (1) full time equivalent year of experience in the last five (5) years in nursing practice conducting patient assessment and providing direct nursing care for a broad range of diseases in the population in a primary care, public or community health, ambulatory, or acute care setting.
The required services/tasks may include, but are not limited to the following:
- Interviewing patients to get a medical history
- Conducting physical examinations
- Diagnosing injuries, illnesses, and disorders
- Prescribing certain medications to treat chronic or acute illness
- Teaching patients about illness prevention and a healthy lifestyle
- Communicating with other health care providers to achieve total health for patients
- Performing annual physicals
- Performing patient counselling (e.g., mental health, family planning, medication compliance)
- Promoting health (e.g., smoking cessation)
- Immunizing against disease, screening for diseases
- Treating for short-term acute illnesses (e.g., infections, minor injuries)
- Monitoring patients with chronic illnesses or conditions (e.g., diabetes)
- Referring patients to social services
- Counselling patients (e.g., understanding illness progression, treatments)
- Promoting health (e.g., infection control)
- Treating for acute / critical / urgent illness
- Demonstrating/Teaching Procedures (e.g., de-fibrillation)
- Referrals to other health and social services (e.g. social work, dieticians, pharmacists, home care facilities)
- Prescribing medications, and administers physical exams and preventive care
- Obtaining medical histories, provides immunizations, and manages chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease
