Lawyers For Nurses

Patients and their family members can make a complaint about a nurse’s practice or conduct. The CNO will notify the nurse of the complaint.

A complaint may be resolved through an alternative dispute resolution process. However, alternative dispute resolution is only possible if all parties involved agree to it. With alternative dispute resolution, a facilitator from CNO talks to both the nurse and the complainant separately. They discuss the complaint and ideas for resolving it. Ultimately, the facilitator drafts a resolution agreement that all parties sign. The dispute resolution agreement is not published and the process is confidential.

Complaints that cannot be dealt with through alternative dispute resolution go through the investigation process. The investigator’s role is to gather information about the issues raised by the complainant. The investigator will interview the complainant and may interview other witnesses and compile documents related to the complaint, such as health records. Once all information is gathered, the investigator will ask the nurse to respond to the complaint. The nurse will have 30 days to provide a written response. Once received, the investigator may do further investigation if needed, then provide the results to the nurse involved. The matter is then scheduled for a review by the panel of the Inquires, Complaints and Reports Committee (“ICRC”).

The ICRC reviews all information gathered by the investigator. If the information gathered does not support the complaint, the ICRC will not take any action. However, if the information gathered does support the complaint, the ICRC will consider the seriousness of the issues and any previous decisions made by the College involving the nurse. Based on those considerations, the ICRC will decide how to address the nurse’s conduct. The ICRC may decide to:

• Take no action;
• Issue advice;
• Require the nurse attend in-person for a formal caution;
• Require the nurse to complete a Remediation Program; and
• Refer some or all of the issues in the complaint to the Discipline Committee.
• The nurse and complainant will each receive a copy of the ICRC’s decision and its reasons.

Both the nurse and complainant can request that the ICRC’s decision be reviewed by the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board (the “Board”). The Board is an independent body that is mandated to conduct reviews of the ICRC’s decisions.