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Proposed bylaw changes

Posted Mon Dec 10 08:04:00 MST 2018

We are seeking feedback on proposed revisions to the CARNA Bylaws related to amendments to the Health Professions Act and the Registered Nurses Profession Regulation. Review draft bylaws.

Please forward any feedback to bsheppard@nurses.ab.ca by Feb.8, 2019.

Amendments and rationale

The suggested revisions reflect changes in the Regulation whereby: 1) the membership year is now referred to as the practice year, and 2) a temporary permit is now called a provisional permit.

The term Nursing Education Program Approval Board is legacy terminology from the former Nurse Profession Act prior to 2005. The title Nursing Education Program Approval Board has been changed to Committee in the Regulation and the Bylaws to align with the other six regulatory committees of CARNA.

We are proposing that a public member be added to the membership of both the Competence and the Registration Committees. With respect to the Competence Committee, section 10(2) of the HPA provides that a Competence Committee must consist of no fewer than three members and the majority must be regulated members. The Bylaws distinguish between “regulated members” and “persons”. Bylaw 19.3(1) indicates that the Competence Committee shall be composed of not less than seven “persons” appointed by Council. Given that, the membership is not restricted to “regulated members”, the current Bylaws empower Council to appoint regulated members and members of the public to the Competence Committee provided that regulated members are always the majority to ensure compliance with HPA section 10(2). As a result, no change has been made to the Bylaws relating to the composition of the Competence Committee.  

With regard to the Registration Committee, section 9(1) of the HPA provides that a Registration Committee shall consist of no fewer than three members, the majority of which must be regulated members. Bylaw 17.3(1) provides that the Registration Committee shall be composed of not less than “seven regulated members of the College” appointed by Council. The Bylaws currently restrict membership on the Registration Committee to regulated members. Therefore, the same wording as Bylaw 19.3(1) has been added, changing the phrase “regulated members” to “persons”. This would enable Council to appoint both regulated members and members of the public, provided that regulated members remain a majority on the Registration Committee as required by HPA s. 9(1)(a).

Subject Amendment Rationale
Practice year
  • s. 1(d):  delete reference to “Membership year” and substitute “Practice Year”
  • s.35
 Reflect change of terminology in Regulation
NEPAC
  • s. 1(e):   delete “ NEPAB” and replace with “NEPAC”;  delete “Board” and replace with “Committee” 
  • s. 12.4:  delete “Nursing Education Approval Board (NEPAB)” and replace with “Nursing Education Approval Committee (NEPAC)
  • s. 12.5(1), s. 17.4, s. 18.3, s. 19.4, s. 23.3, s. 24 (3), s. 25.3: delete “NEPAB” and replace with “NEPAC”
  • Title of Part VIII:  delete “Board (NEPAB)” and replace with “Committee (NEPAC)” 
  • s. 30:  delete “NEPAB” wherever it exists and replace with “NEPAC”
 Reflect change of terminology in Regulation
Provisional register
  • s. 11.1(4):  delete “Temporary” and replace with “Provisional” 
  • s. 11.5:  Delete “Temporary” and replace with “provisional” in the heading of the section  and in section 11.5(1) (2)
 Reflect change of terminology in Regulation
Public member
  • s. 17.3(1):  delete “regulated members” and replace with “persons”. 
  • s. 17.5(4)(a) and (b) and s.17.5(5):  delete “Registered Nurse” and replace with “person”. 
  • s. 17.10:  delete the references to “regulated members” and replace with “persons” 
 Provide for possibility of appointing public members to the Registration Committee provided the majority of members are regulated members 
Liability insurance

Under Part V – Registration, s. 18.1.1 was added:

18.1.1 Professional Liability Protection
Beneficiary status with the Canadian Nurses Protective Society is hereby established as a requirement pursuant to section 12.1 of the Regulations.

New Section, 12.1 of the Regulation was added:

“An applicant for registration as a regulated member must have the type and amount of professional liability insurance required by the Council and must, upon request, provide evidence satisfactory to the Registrar that the applicant has met this requirement.”
Website

s. 40 was added:

40. Website
The type of information that may be published on CARNA’s website in addition to the information in section 135.92 (2) of the Act is as follows: 

  • general information about CARNA and its activities;   
  • general information about the nursing profession, general information on nursing practice, general information about the regulatory processes under the Act including applying for registration, applying for practice permits, the professional conduct process including complaints and concerns,  continuing competence and other matters covered by the Act; 
  • find a nurse function which includes information on regulated members’ registration numbers; conditions imposed on a regulated member’s practice permit;  
  • employer verification of the status of a nurse; 
  • publications and reports;  
  • resources and services offered by CARNA; 
  • learning opportunities;  
  • careers at CARNA;  
  • information requests, member requests; 
  • a MyCARNA portal for members; 
  • information on how to contact CARNA; 
  • Hearing Tribunal decisions including the name of the investigated member; 
  • decisions of the Appeals Committee arising from appeals from a Hearing Tribunal; and 
  • information referenced in section 119(1) of the Act.
 s. 23 of Bill 21 (amendments to the HPA) outlines the minimum information that must be published on a College’s website. Colleges can choose to publish additional information, but must pass a bylaw describing the additional information.