What Counts as Practice Hours

Practice hours include any hours when you were engaged in nursing practice while you held an active permit as a graduate nurse (GN), registered nurse (RN), graduate nurse practitioner (GNP), nurse practitioner (NP) or certified graduate nurse (CGN). The CRNA recognizes these domains of nursing: administration, research, education and clinical practice.

Included:

CGN practice in Alberta
Licensed graduate nurse practice in British Columbia
Committee hours related to nursing
Call-back hours
CGN practice while serving with a non-government organization where nursing skills are required, and documentation indicates the position must be registered

Not Included:

CGN practice outside of Alberta or British Columbia
Hours practised as a licensed practical nurse (LPN)
Vacation, sick time, leave of absence or other hours that have been paid, but not worked
On-call hours when no care is being provided
Time spent caring for a friend or a family member
Hours spent in courses while not holding a permit

Included:

RN practice in Alberta
RN practice outside of Alberta
Courses towards specialty certification related to practising registered nursing
Volunteer hours where RN skills are required
Committee hours related to nursing
Call-back hours
RN consulting service hours
Self-employed nursing practice hours
RN educator hours
Registered psychiatric nurse (RPN) hours. You may count hours practising as an RPN in Alberta, provided you held an RN practice permit at the same time as an RPN practice permit

Not Included:

Hours practised as a licensed practical nurse (LPN)
Vacation, sick time, leave of absence or other hours that have been paid, but not worked
On-call hours when no care is being provided
Time spent caring for a friend or a family member
Hours spent in courses while not holding a permit

Education Hours

You may count courses completed at a post-basic RN level while holding a practice permit with a regulatory body. Courses must be completed within the practice year to claim hours for that year (transcripts or course confirmation may be required). Eligible courses may include:

Post-RN nursing education courses offered by a college or a university in an area of nursing practice (60 hours per credit or hours as outlined in the syllabus)
Nursing specialty area certification courses – such as occupational health nursing, gerontological nursing (60 hours per credit)
Canadian Nurses Association certification (initial certification 180 hours)
Nursing courses offered by a university faculty of nursing towards a masters in nursing (60 hours per credit)
Nursing courses offered by a university faculty of nursing towards a PhD in nursing (60 hours per credit, for PhD candidate dissertation research full-time enrollment count 1,125 hours per year enrolled)
Courses towards a masters in public health, masters in health science administration and masters in community health (60 hours per credit)
Courses towards a masters or PhD in a health-related discipline
Some non-nursing university or college courses or programs in Canada (approval is required from the registration committee)
Formal continuing nursing education outside of Canada (approval is required from the registration committee)

Hours in Other Jurisdictions

You must hold a permit in the location where the hours were worked to count them. If your hours are from another country and you did not hold a permit, they may be counted if:

There is agreement from the regulatory body that registration is not required, and registration was not refused by the regulatory body.
It was not possible to be regulated in the location because a regulatory body did not exist or chaos such as war or major disaster prevented reasonable efforts to be registered.
Registration and a practice permit were held with the College or another RN equivalent regulatory body at the time the hours of practice occurred.

The registrar must be provided evidence of this for these hours to count.

Volunteer Hours

You may count volunteer hours where RN/CGN/NP skills are required. Documentation must indicate the position requires registration and can only count if the member was registered at the time of the practice. A job description, a letter from the agency and approval for the setting may be required to count volunteer hours as nursing practice hours (contact registration services to request review).

Hours Spent on a Committee

You may include hours spent fulfilling duties to the profession on behalf of the CRNA, regulatory bodies or professional nursing organizations.

Call-Back Hours

You may include hours of RN practice for call-back but not on-call hours provided you held a practice permit.

Consulting Service Hours

The consultation activities hours may count but must fall within the definition of nursing practice and be related to nursing services.

Hours Outside of Alberta

You may be able to count RN hours from another province, territory or country provided you held a practice permit in that jurisdiction (verification may be required).

Self-Employed Hours

You may only count these hours if your self-employed nursing practice fell within the nursing practice definition in Schedule 24 of the Health Professions Act.

RN Educator Hours

You may count direct contact hours of teaching, preparation hours in advance of teaching, and hours spent marking exams or assignments for a nursing program or continuing nursing education course or program.

Registered Psychiatric Nurse (RPN) Hours

You may count hours practising as an RPN in Alberta, provided you held an RN practice permit at the same time as an RPN practice permit.

Included:

NP practice in Alberta
NP practice in another Canadian jurisdiction

Not Included:

NP practice outside of Canada