Nursing practice profiles

Registered Nurses (RNs) may work in more than 50 different areas of practice from public health to palliative care.

Don’t know where to begin? Here are five “practice profiles” (by the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario). Get a glimpse of a day in the life of a nurse who works in each of these areas, find out what education you need to work in the field, and learn about the scope of practice.

Check back regularly as new sectors are featured!

Home Health Nursing

The last 20 years, we’ve witnessed nursing care shift to the community from hospitals. Discover all the interventions home health care nurses now deliver, allowing Canadians to successful manage increasingly complex conditions in the comfort of their homes. Learn more.

Occupational Health Nursing

Occupational Health Nurses are knowledgeable, and highly skilled, with specialized education in many related workplace health and environmental safety fields. Learn more about how the OHN may be the employee’s first contact with primary health care.

Palliative care

Don’t be fooled — palliative care nursing is not only end of life care. In fact, as RN, CNS, APN or NP, nurses spend time focusing on a holistic approach to care delivery, attending to the physical, spiritual, psycho-social and practical issues that may arise during an illness period. Learn more.

Parish/Faith Community Nursing

This is one of the newer nursing specialties, though its origins are historic. Find out how, in new and creative ways, the parish nurse role reclaims the historical roots of health and healing. Learn more.

Public Health Nursing

Public Health Nurses protect and promote health by addressing a wide range of factors including physiological, emotional, social, political, spiritual, historical, cultural and environmental. Learn more about how Public Health Nurses help to prevent disease.