Prescribing course for nurses in the works at Ontario colleges

Following an announcement by the province in November that the role of registered nurses is being expanded to allow them to prescribe medications, a consortium of seven Ontario colleges is proposing to give RNs the training they need to provide this care.

The matter came up at the Dec. 7 Cambrian College board of governors meeting, where board members approved a RN Prescribing microcredential program.

Cambrian, which also offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, is part of a consortium of seven Ontario colleges that plan to offer this microcredential program together.

Besides Cambrian, the other colleges involved in the project are Algonquin College, Confederation College, Collège La Cité, Northern College, St. Lawrence College and Sault College.

The program is being developed as a result of a request by the College of Nurses of Ontario.

Although operating as a consortium, each of the involved colleges will need to approve the microcredential at their own board of governors and then individually submit a proposal to the province.

“What we’re doing here is we’re trying to get out into the market quickly, with courses that will help those existing RNs to upgrade to be able to prescribe,” said Janice Clarke, vice-president, academic at Cambrian College.

The group of colleges hope to hold the first RN Prescribing course in March 2024.

The November provincial press release said registration is expected to open in January 2024 for registered nurses interested in completing the additional education requirements to work more independently in their community settings. 

“As more registered nurses complete the training, more people will have faster access to birth control, drugs for smoking cessation, and travel medications to treat and prevent malaria and traveller’s diarrhea,” said the press release.

“People will also be able to receive topical wound care and conveniently get their vaccinations such as the flu shot and COVID-19 vaccines prescribed from a registered nurse. Supporting Ontario’s highly trained registered nurses to connect people to the care they need will also give doctors and nurse practitioners more time to treat those with more complex needs.”

Pharmacists have already been able to prescribe for common ailments since Jan. 1 of this year.

To enrol in the microcredential program being proposed by the consortium of Ontario colleges, students will need to be a registered nurse in good standing with the Colleges of Nurses of Ontario, have 3,900 hours of recent practice and letters of reference.

The program will be offered online, asynchronously and in both official languages, through OntarioLearn. 

It consists of two modular courses (advanced health assessment and advanced pharmacology) and includes a final course consisting of a 150-hour, preceptor-modelled practicum.

“The nice thing is the online asynchronous delivery lets them work at their own pace, so they can do it in as little as two months or four months for the theory portion,” Clarke said.

The province has approved funding to support start up, administration costs and tuition support.

The intent is to provide opportunities for nurses in rural communities to have additional skills to support their practice.

“So these RNs that are going to be trained to prescribe are not the RNs that are working at Health Sciences North (Sudbury’s hospital), although some of them may want to upgrade their credentials, and they can,” said Clarke.

“But typically, these are RNs that are working in rural areas, that are working in long term care, retirement homes, where they're not directly supervised by a doctor or nurse practitioner. And so obviously, the need is there to prescribe.”

Eventually, these courses will be a standard part of nursing degree programs in Ontario. 

“Right now, there's a gap though, because we have all of these nurses there who will have the ability to do this, and so they need that upgraded training,” Clarke said.

Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.