Vision for the Future of Nursing in Canada

In 2017, the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Committee on Health Workforce asked the Principal Nursing Advisors Task Force to develop a vision for the future of nursing in Canada that could benefit Canadians, and that could support and strengthen pan-Canadian health human resources planning. The Conference of Deputy Ministers of
Health also supported the initiative.

As a pan-Canadian subcommittee of the Committee on Health Workforce, the Task Force monitors and analyzes nursing human resources trends to better inform nursing and health policy federally, provincially and territorially. Through its analysis, the Task Force determined that from a policy and strategic perspective, nursing human resources optimization and overall sustainability requires:

• a pan-Canadian nursing regulatory framework;
• integrated entry-level nursing education; and
• the opportunity for nurses to work at their optimal scope of practice.

Evolving health care systems create challenges related to changing patient and population health needs, sustainability and equitable access to health care services. Canadian nurses and those charged with the responsibility of managing the health care workforce effectively must be adequately prepared to meet those challenges.
This Vision for the Future of Nursing in Canada outlines a future for nursing that enables nurses to play an integral role in change leadership in addressing the evolving
challenges of health care in the 21st century. The Vision positively positions nurses as change leaders at the forefront of health care system transformation.

This Vision was developed in consultation with the broad nursing community and partners, through the expert knowledge of Task Force members, and through provincial-territorial (PT) and pan-Canadian roundtable consultations.