Practice Direction: Self-Employed Practice - Consultation

Introduction

The Practice Direction: Self-Employed Practice has been updated to include a clearer description of self-employed practice, guidelines around the expectations for registrants who embark on self-employed practice, and updates to wording to align with regulation changes and a glossary of definitions. A new requirement is that registrants must complete 2,105 hours of registered nursing practice in a Canadian jurisdiction prior to establishing a self-employed practice. This hours requirement is the equivalent of one year of full-time experience.

Registrants who engage in self-employed practice are in a higher risk clinical setting where the nature and extent of supervision, oversight and feedback are limited. The very nature of self-employed practice is practicing independently. Considering this risk, new entry-to-practice registrants and those with limited practice hours, who could benefit the most from supervision, feedback and reflection upon one’s practice, are not suitable candidates to embark on self-employed practice.

Research into the transition from nursing education indicates that the consolidation of an entry to practice nurse’s knowledge, skill, and judgment and the adaptation to a new clinical environment takes place over a period of at least 12 months, during which additional support, supervision, and oversight are required to ensure safe and effective nursing practice (Baharum, 2023, Duchscher, 2008 & Benner, 1984).

Revised document
The link to the draft revised practice direction can be found here.

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