Glossary

Any collective mixture characterized by differences including (but not limited to) socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, language, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability status, or veteran status. Diversity focuses on representation.

A nursing action that produces a written and/or electronic account of pertinent client data, nursing clinical decisions and interventions, and the client’s responses in a health record.

Domains or areas of practice are identified within the profession of nursing: clinical practice, research, education, consultation, management, administration, policy development and regulation. The practice domain is fundamental to nursing, and all other domains ultimately exist to maintain and support practice. Registered nurses may practice in more than one domain within the context of their role.

The transfer of a medication from a lawful channel of distribution or use, including by medication tampering. Controlled substances can be diverted anywhere along the supply and distribution chain. Methods of drug diversion include prescription forgery; telephone fraud; drug seeking from physicians, NPs, dentists or veterinarians; Indiscriminate prescribing; theft: external or internal (e.g., by employees); fraudulent orders made for a drug abuser by a pharmacy employee.

Nurses have a professional duty and a legal obligation to provide persons receiving care with safe, competent, compassionate and ethical care. There may be some circumstances in which it is acceptable for a nurse to withdraw from care provisions or to refuse to provide care.

Nurses question, intervene, report, and address unsafe, non compassionate, unethical or incompetent practice or conditions that interfere with their ability to provide safe, compassionate, competent and ethical care. Nurses must be attentive to indications that a colleague is unable to provide such care regardless of the reason. In this situation, the nurse is obligated to take the steps necessary to ensure client safety. Reporting a situation that may compromise client safety is a nurse’s professional obligation.

Situations where verbal prescriptions could be acceptable include (but may not be limited to):

• emergent or urgent situations where delay in treatment would place the client at risk of harm;

• when the prescriber is not present, and urgent or emergent direction is required to provide appropriate client care;

• when the prescriber is away from the client care area where access to the health record is not possible; or,

• when the prescriber is consulting via telehealth without the ability to enter their prescription into the health record.

Empathy involves the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, while compassion is characterized by a proactive desire to alleviate suffering. These are core attributes that define the quality and effectiveness of patient centered care.

Refers to the foundational competencies required of a newly graduated and newly regulated nurse to begin practice safely, competently, ethically, and collaboratively, recognizing that further development occurs through experience, mentorship, and continuing competence.

Nursing education programs that prepare individuals entering the nursing profession with the competencies expected upon initial registration with the NANB.

Practice which supports environmental preservation and restoration while advocating for initiatives that reduce environmentally harmful practices in order to promote health and well-being.

Determining fairness on the basis of people’s needs. This means that those who are less fortunate would receive more resources than those who are well off.

The fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement of all people, and the attempt to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups. The principle of equity acknowledges that historically underserved and underrepresented populations exist and that fairness regarding these unbalanced conditions is required to assist in the provision of adequate opportunities for all groups. Equity also considers that social groups (gender, religion, socioeconomic status etc.) do affect equality.

A nursing education program that has graduated students and has received an approved or conditional approval status from CNNB.

An environment with the potential to promote moral integrity and moral agency.

A branch of philosophy that deals with questions of right and wrong and of ought and ought not in our interactions with others.

A scheme showing areas for reflection on an individual’s practice and providing steps in ethical decision-making. Normally, this model includes critical questions to consider in reflecting on or in dealing with an ethical situation.

How nurses pay attention to ethics in carrying out their common daily interactions, including how they approach their practice and reflect on their ethical commitments to persons receiving care or with health-care needs.

The deliberate process of integrating the best available research evidence with clinical expertise, client preferences, and contextual factors to guide safe, competent, compassionate and ethical nursing practice.

Practice which is based on successful strategies that improve client outcomes and are derived from a combination of various sources of evidence, including client perspective, research, national guidelines, policies, consensus statements, expert opinion and quality improvement data.

Equalizing people’s opportunities to participate in and enjoy life, given their circumstances, and society’s equitable distribution of resources (in health care this means an expectation of equitable treatment).

In matters of caregiving, family is recognized as those people identified by the person receiving or in need of care who provide familial support, whether or not there is a biologic relationship. However, in matters of legal decision-making it must be noted that provincial legislation is not uniform across Canada and may include an obligation to recognize family members in priority according to their biologic relationship.

An obligation to act in the best interest of another. A person acting in a fiduciary capacity is held to a high standard of honesty and must not obtain a personal benefit at the expense of the client.

The First Nations principles of ownership, control, access, and possession – more commonly known as OCAP® – assert that First Nations have control over data collection processes, and that they own and control how this information can be used.

All the qualities and capabilities of an individual relevant to his or her capacity to practice as a nurse, including but not limited to freedom from any cognitive, physical, psychological, or emotional condition, and impairment from alcohol or drugs.

For the purposes of program approval, foundational practice standards are the more commonly cited CNNB measures related to RN and NP performance issues as identified through the CNNB data.

A person's internal and deeply felt sense of being man or woman, both, neither, or somewhere along the gender spectrum. A person's gender identity may or may not align with the gender typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. Gender identity is not necessarily visible and is not related to sexual orientation.

A neurological scale which aims to give a reliable and objective way of recording the conscious state of a person.

An area of research and practice committed to the application of overtly multidisciplinary, multisectoral, and culturally sensitive approaches for reducing health disparities that transcend national borders.

Education beyond the baccalaureate level, including master’s, doctoral and postdoctoral levels.