Under Ontario law, regulations and policies of bodies such as the College of Physicans and Surgeons, and the College of Nurses, there are a number of things that can only be done by regulated healthcare professionals. These regulated procedures are called “controlled acts”. ;For example it may surprise most patients to find out that if you are getting cosmetic injections (eg botox, restylane, etc), your initial assessment should typically be performed by a physician and not a nurse.   It is not completely uncommon for some doctors to take a shortcut here and never meet the patient initially. While this may not appear problematic on the surface, a healthcare consumer should consider what could happen if something ever goes wrong.

After having your initial assessment done with a physician, a nurse or even a person who is not a nurse can typically do the actual work if the supervising physician delegates the work to him or her. However, a nurse or other healthcare workers may not typically administer injections on their own without the work being delegated to them by a physician (there are some exceptions, the details of which can be obtained from either of the Colleges). What complicates the issue of patients not seeing a physician for consultation before getting cosmetic injections even more is the fact that botox is a drug. Ontario law specifically prohibits general nurses from independently prescribing a drug to a patient, and makes doing so an offence punishable by very large financial fines and even imprisonment.

Prudent healthcare consumers shop for quality and value when considering cosmetic injections and know the importance of investing time in becoming adequately informed to protect their interests. For more information visit the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario’s website at www.cpso.on.ca, or the College of Nurses of Ontario at www.cno.org.