Nurse-workforce-Canada - Health Quality Ontario (HQO)

INDICATOR NAME

Name

Number of nurses employed in nursing across Canada per 100,000 people (Retired)

Alternate Name

Number of nurses practising across Canada per 100,000 people

INDICATOR DESCRIPTION

Description

This indicator measures the number of nurses that submit an active practising registration for employment in Canada to their provincial or territorial regulatory authority per 100,000 people. It includes registered nurses, nurse practitioners and licensed practical nurses (registered practical nurses) working full-time, part-time and casual hours.

Indicator Status

Retired

HQO Reporting tool/product

Public reporting

Dimension

Efficient

Type

Structure

DEFINITION AND SOURCE INFORMATION

Unit of Measurement

Number per 100,000 people

Calculation Methods

This indicator is calculated by dividing the number of nurses by the size of the population, and multiplying by 100,000 to get the number of nurses per 100,000 people

Numerator including inclusion/exclusion

Number of nurses who register as actively practising nursing with a Canadian provincial or territorial regulatory authority during the first 6 months of the registration year

Inclusions:

Nurses who submit an active practising registration in a Canadian province or territory during the first 6 months of the registration year
Nurses employed as full-time (30 hours or more per week), nurses employed as part-time (less than 30 hours per week), or nurses employed as casual (on an as-needed basis)
Registered nurses (RNs), which includes nurse practitioners (NPs), and licensed practical nurses (LPNs)

Exclusions:

Nurses who submit a non-practising registration
Nurses living or practising outside Canada who have not maintained a Canadian license

Denominator including inclusion/exclusion

Estimated number of people living in Canada or province

Adjustment (risk, age/sex standardization)- detailed

None

Data Source

Health Workforce Database, Statistics Canada population estimates

Data provided to HQO by

Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)

Reported Levels of comparability /stratifications (defined)

Province

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Caveats and Limitations

The indicator values calculated using data provided to HQO from CIHI may differ from the values reported by others or the values calculated by HQO from data provided by CNO and the MOHLTC even though the data sources are the same (annual registration forms and population estimates). The differences may be due to differences in the reference population, collection period, exclusions, and editing and processing methodologies. The nursing workforce is described by counting the number of nurses employed in nursing at the time of annual registration. In other words, it does not include all nurses who were eligible to practise in a given year. However, nurses on temporary leave are generally considered as active practising registrations with the intent of returning to that position when the temporary leave ends. The measure looks at the number of health care providers per 100,000 population, however it does not account for differences in scope of practice or differences in the health status/needs of the population being served in each region.

Comments Detailed

The indicator is described by HQO for three nursing professions separately: registered nurses (excluding NPs), nurse practitioners, and licensed practical nurses. In Ontario, these regulated nursing professions are referred to as registered nurses (RNs), nurse practitioners (NPs) and registered practical nurses (RPNs), respectively. Each province has its own legislation and regulations governing nursing practice, as well as its own regulatory body that regulates and grants licenses or registration to nurses. The indicator uses the annual registration data that these regulatory bodies submit to CIHI and population estimates from Statistics Canada to calculate the rate within each jurisdiction. Nurses renew their license annually during a 12-month registration period. Each province is responsible for setting different start and end dates for the registration period. This indicator includes all nurses who renew their license during the first 6 months of that registration period. Retired from Measuring Up