On Jan. 11, the Ontario government announced a program to allow internationally educated nurses (IEN) to work in hospitals and long-term care homes that need staffing support. The province will run this program in partnership with Ontario Health and the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO). The program started with 300 IENs to be matched with 50 hospitals across the province. This allows those nurses who need their practice requirements fulfilled to complete those requirements under the supervision of a regulated health-care provider. RNAO CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun indicated that the pool of IENs available is much higher than the 300 announced in mid-January. In fact, there are more than 20,000 IENs waiting to be processed and fulfill the requirements to work in this province, as set out by CNO. “We have a problem here in Ontario. Internationally educated nurses are not treated equally and CNO needs to move much quicker with the (registration) process,” Grinspun said (CP24, Jan. 11). Find out more about RNAO’s advocacy on behalf of IENs by visiting the #IENaction campaign online.