Use of Title Standards

The Use of Title Standards are developed and approved as outlined in Section 133 of the Health Professions Act (HPA, 2000). The purpose of the Use of Title Standards is to identify the titles, abbreviations, and initials registrants may use in Alberta, and to establish the expectations for their use. This includes the use of the title ‘specialist'.

The HPA (2000), Part 7, Section 128, provides schedules that authorize the titles, abbreviations, and initials that registrants of a regulated profession can use. This section of the HPA outlines the prohibition and the exception to the use of protected titles including college, registered, regulated, regulated health professional, doctor, surgeon, pathologist, oncologist, nurse, and specialist. Unauthorized use of protected titles and abbreviations can result in fines and other penalties as outlined in Sections 129 and 130 of the HPA. 

Title protection assures the public that an individual

•  has met the regulatory college’s requirements for registration; and
•  is authorized to practise nursing.

Protected titles create a boundary for professional practice. Titles are reserved for registrants of the regulated profession and cannot legally be used by unqualified and unregulated individuals. When people fraudulently pass themselves off as regulated professionals, it presents a risk to public safety and protection (Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, 2010).