New Sault College program will certify registered nurses to prescribe meds

Experienced registered nurses will soon be able to prescribe certain medications upon completion of a new community college graduate certificate program.

The Sault College board of governors approved a ‘Registered Nurse - Prescribing’ graduate certificate program at its regular monthly meeting on Thursday.

Sault College is one of seven Ontario community colleges offering the graduate certificate program in a consortium with St. Lawrence College, Algonquin, Cambrian, Confederation, La Cité and Northern. 

The College of Nurses of Ontario started approving registered nurse prescribing programs in the province in December 2023.

The seven-college consortium, led by St. Lawrence College, created the ‘Registered Nurse - Prescribing’ program and it was quickly approved by the CNO. 

“The program was created to address a change in prescribing because RNs are now allowed to prescribe a specific list of medications including immunizations, contraception, travel health medicine, certain topical wound care, smoking cessation products, allergic reaction medications like epinephrine and other various over the counter medications,” said Bob Chapman, Sault College Dean of Health addressing the board.

“The program is currently being delivered already within the consortium colleges beginning in January and we are piggybacking on the delivery of the program,” Chapman said.

“It eases access to care for minor issues. A patient with eczema for example will be able to receive treatment quite quickly as opposed to having to resort to an emergency room or a doctor’s appointment,” said Sherri Smith, Sault College vice president of academics, innovation and student services.

“It expands the scope of our nurses. It allows for minor issues to be addressed by the nurse, similar to nurse practitioners having a broader scope now, and pharmacists. It’s in league with that approach,” Smith told SooToday in an interview following Thursday’s board meeting.

Sault College’s plan is to deliver the Registered Nurse - Prescribing Ontario College Graduate Certificate program for two to five years as a bridge program for experienced nurses before embedding the curriculum into the college’s four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.    

Applicants must be registered nurses with the College of Nurses of Ontario, without restrictions. 

Applicants are to have had 3,900 hours of clinical practice within the previous five years. Applicants must submit along with their application a letter of intent, letters of reference from their current employer as well a character reference and a resume showing evidence of being a practicing nurse.

The Ontario government will provide free tuition for the first 1,000 nurses to enroll in the program across the consortium’s seven colleges.

“My understanding is that it’s first come, first served as long as you’re eligible for the program and you meet the requirements. I would anticipate that we’re going to get to that 1,000 students pretty quickly. It will be a popular program here at Sault College until it’s embedded into our mainstream Bachelor of Science Nursing program,” Smith said. 

“It’s a bridging program. Future students will receive this content in their nursing programs. That’s why there’s a limited time that we will need to operate this program.”

Smith said Sault College could start taking students into the program as early as March.

The college’s enrollment projection for the program is 20 students for the spring of 2024, 10 for the fall of 2024 and 10 for the winter of 2025.

Nurses interested in the program can contact the college’s registrar office.

The program consists of three courses, including 42 hours of Advanced Health Assessment, 42 hours of Advanced Pharmacology for Registered Nurse Prescribers and 150 hours of placement in a clinical setting.

The program can be completed on a part-time basis and self-paced.

Placements will not be in hospitals because the program is intended to help patients in a public health unit setting, in home care or remote rural areas. 

“Home care nursing is a great example. Our Algoma Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic is probably one example of a potential placement but we haven’t formalized these placements yet. It’s still to be determined,” Smith said.

Smith said that having registered nurses being able to prescribe certain medications will help ease the workload of primary care providers.

“I think that any opportunity is an opportunity, and this is one of them. All these components help take pressure off the healthcare system.”