We talk in the audit about the fact that the nurses are required to work outside of their scope of practice, that is, do some things that a nurse is not normally required to do—this is in section 4.35—and we talk about the fact that Health Canada has explored some options to deal with this problem. The options that have been discussed include putting medical directives in place so that the nurses' activities beyond the scope of practice are delegated by an appropriate medical professional, working with the provinces to amend the relevant provincial nursing acts and regulations, or perhaps hiring more nurse practitioners. The concept of nurse practitioners in those remote areas is something that has been discussed, but at the time of the audit, in the communities that we looked at, the services were still being provided by nurses. These services were outside the scope of what a normal nurse would provide, and the nurses had not received all the training that was identified as necessary for them.
On April 29th, 2015. See this statement in context.