Island nurses and midwives are now overseen by a single regulatory body after two separate colleges merged to form the P.E.I. College of Nursing and Midwifery.

Until now, licensed practical nurses were regulated by one college, while registered nurses and midwives belonged to another.

Those two colleges have come together into a single organization that encompasses LPNs, midwives, nurse practitioners, RNs and registered psychiatric nurses.

Melissa Panton, the new college’s first CEO and registrar, said the merger made sense because the two bodies had already been working closely together for years.

“We work together within the health-care system, so a lot of the challenges and trends that we see in practice are shared between the designations,” Panton told CBC’s Island Morning on Thursday.

“It was an opportunity for us to come together to share resources and better position ourselves to deal with the challenges that are currently being seen in the health-care system.”

She added that the college is there to ensure practitioners meet standards of practice, so if someone has concerns that a nurse or midwife has fallen below those standards, they should now turn to the new college with their questions.

Among the priorities for the new organization, Panton said, is expanding the scope of practice for midwives.

In 2024, after decades of proponents calling for the service, P.E.I. became the last province to introduce midwifery services.

“Midwives have been used for many years, and not just in what you would think is a traditional midwife role, which is working with a birthing family and caring for a newborn for a short period of time. Midwives in other jurisdictions are working a lot in women’s health in broader aspects,” she said.

“That’s something that we will work with our provincial government to see if we can advance that scope in this province.”

Meanwhile, Panton noted that Prince Edward Island already has “the broadest scope of practice for nurse practitioners,” adding that the province has implemented RN prescribing. In recent years, psychiatric nurses have also been introduced into the province.

“Now that we’ve done that, we need to figure out how to better support practice and also help the health-care system make changes,” Panton said.

Addressing gaps

Panton said the college will also continue working with P.E.I.’s Department of Health and Wellness around internationally educated registered nurses.

She said many internationally educated RNs who come to the province initially work as resident-care workers or practical nurses, with the goal of eventually becoming registered nurses. However, as some transition into RN roles, gaps can emerge elsewhere in the system.

“We really need to focus on practical nurses, because as they move into RNs there’s a gap for the practical nurses.”

Panton said one of the college’s key roles is to ensure nurses and midwives have access to strong resources and a clear understanding of the laws and standards that govern their work, so they know what to do and who to turn to when issues arise.

She added that the province’s Regulated Health Professions Act helped make the merger smoother, as it serves as an “umbrella” law covering multiple professions. Both former colleges already operated under the act and followed similar rules.

“Yesterday was day one, and there was no fire. So that’s great. Anyone that called in with a practice question, we’re still able to answer that because we work so closely together,” she said.

“For our staff at the college, a switch was flipped, but it wasn’t a big one.”