As I am sure everyone is very aware, Registered nurses play a vital role in health care systems both regionally and federally. Registered nurses make up the largest group of health care professionals in Canada. Being a Registered Nurse for 10 years, I am very proud of my profession and the excellent work that nurses do each day in collaboration with all members of the health care team. This has been very evident in nurses’ vital roles during the COVID-19 pandemic and roll out of the vaccine programs within each province. 
All registered nurses throughout Canada must hold a current nursing license to practice and provide care to clients. There is no federal nursing license, instead each province is responsible for overseeing the licensure processes and monitoring of all nurses. Following guidance from the Canada Health Act, provincial licensure bodies must protect the best interest of the public by making sure nurses are providing quality and safe care. Personally, being a registered nurse in Newfoundland and Labrador, I am licensed to practice by the College of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador (Canadian Nurses Association, 2000). While researching my role as a nurse within the Canadian Health System I found the Newfoundland Registered Nurses Act (Government of NL, 2008) This Act provides guidance to the nursing governing body of Newfoundland to help advance and promote the ethical and professional standards of the nursing profession within the province. It does this all while keeping the best interest of the public first and foremost. 

Another way that I believe registered nurses play a key role in the Canadian Health Care system is helping to make it more efficient and cost effective, all while still providing quality and safe compassionate care to all                                                                        Canadian residents. An excellent article published on the Canadian Nurses                                                                  Association website in September 2013 portrays the ever-changing role of                                                                  the RN in Canada. The article describes how RN’s throughout Canada are                                                                    working to their full scope to both provide health care in a timely manner,                                                                  as well as help transform healthcare using innovation and cost saving                                                                       measures (Canadian Nurses Association, 2013). Personally, I believe that                                                                     provincially, Newfoundland does a great job at allowing RNs to work to their full potential to better the health care system. An example of this is during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, RN’s throughout NL were utilized to assist with the vast role out of tele-health in the province. RN’s values and ideas were taken into consideration during the planning of COVID-19 testing centres and also other area of pandemic planning in the province. Now, at this stage of the pandemic, nurses are being utilized to assist with vaccine role out and taking care of COVID-19 positive patients in hospital.

I am very proud to be a nurse in NL but understand that the role of a nurse can only

go so far without other members of the health care team. During my experiences

I have worked in collaboration with a large number of other health care providers.

These include and not limited to, Speech Language Pathologist, Dieticians,

Physiotherapists, Neurophysiologist, Occupational Therapists, Nursing assistants, 

Physicians, Reception, Respiratory Therapists, Social Workers, Pharmacists, Paramedics, Security, Administrative staff and many others. I appreciate the role of each professional in the care of clients and understand that all roles are so interconnected in the overall best care and outcome within the health care system. 

 

References    

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Canadian Nurses Association. (2000, June). The Canada Health Act.  Retrieved January 17/2020. 
     https://www.cna-aiic.ca/~/media/cna/page-content/pdf-en/fs01_canada_health_act_june_2000e.pdf

 

Registered Nurses Act (2008, c. R-9.1). Retrieved from the Government of NL website:                                                    https://www.assembly.nl.ca/Legislation/sr/statutes/r09-1.htm 

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Canadian Nurses Association. (2013, September). Registered Nurses: Stepping up to transform Health Care.                 Retrieved January 18/2020 from https://www.cna-Ways                                                                                                 aiic.ca/~/media/cna/files/en/registered_nurses_stepping_up_to_transform_health_care_e.pdf