TORONTO - Nurse practitioners should be able to write more prescriptions for patients, refer them for vaccines and even dispense some drugs.
That's what a health advisory council is thinking about proposing to Health Minister George Smitherman.
Before making formal recommendations, the council is holding public hearings on expanding the role of nurses.
Doris Grinspun, with the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, says nurses in other provinces have much more power to prescribe drugs and diagnose patients.
She says allowing nurses to treat fractures and refer patients for vaccines would take the pressure off Ontario's overcrowded emergency rooms and doctors.
Grinspun says the changes are long overdue and giving nurses an expanded role would help attract more of them to Ontario.
