Glossary

A person who may be an ally or may identify as someone from an equity-deserving group and believes in justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. A trusted colleague is willing to support initiatives that can foster diverse and/or inclusive environments.

Paid health care providers who are neither licensed nor registered by a regulatory authority.

A rational conception of the desirable; a standard or quality that is esteemed, desired, and considered important. Values are expressed by behaviors or standards that a person endorses or tries to maintain. Values are typically organized into a hierarchic system of importance to the individual.

Methods used to communicate verbal orders are via telephone, spoken face-to-face or voicemail.

Includes any abuse of power, manipulation or control by one person over another that could result in mental, emotional, social or physical harm. Two descriptors of types of violence are interpersonal violence and structural violence. The former is a matter of person-to-person or person-group violence, while the latter is about systematic ways that social structures, organizations and institutions harm or marginalize people.

Virtual care refers to any interaction between client and/or members of their circle of care, occurring remotely, using any form of communication or information technology, with the aim of facilitating or maximizing the quality and effectiveness of client care. Virtual care technologies are those forms of technology that allows ‘virtual’ interactions with health care professionals to occur in real time, from virtually any location. Services provided using virtual care technologies range from simple to complex. Examples of simple technologies may include telephone, text, messenger, or email, etc. Examples of complex technologies may include, but are not limited to, live, two-way audio/video conferencing or virtual visits, teleradiology, telerobotics, remote control surgical instrumentation.

Groups in society who are systematically disadvantaged in a way that leads to a risk of emotional or physical harm; in health care, harms are related to diminished health and well-being.

Indicates the vast variety of knowledge that exists across diverse Indigenous communities and signals that learning goes beyond human interaction and relationships to include learning from other elements of creation such as the plant and animal nations, and to "objects" that many people consider to be inanimate.

A person’s state of being well, content and able to make the most of their abilities.

Reporting the unethical or unsafe practice of a nursing colleague or other health-care professional for such things as errors, incompetence, negligence or patient abuse. This action would be resorted to only after a person has unsuccessfully used all appropriate organizational channels to right a wrong and has a sound moral justification for taking this action.

Includes behaviours such as verbal abuse or threats of harm, continual criticism, demeaning remarks, intimidation and undermining, as well as more subtle behaviours such as refusing to cooperate, being unavailable to give assistance, hampering another’s performance and making their work difficult. Workplace bullying is the term now used for what was previously described as horizontal or lateral violence, which placed responsibility only on individuals and excluded the responsibility of organizations.