About CNF
The Canadian Nurses Foundation supports world-class Canadian health care by raising funds to advance nursing knowledge and research, and by recognizing professional merit in Canada’s nurses. We invest in nursing excellence for better patient care.
Over 268,500 registered nurses work with Canadians at every age and every stage of life — in clinical settings and in education, research, administration and policy across the country. Nurses are leaders in public health, patient safety and are critical to the achievement of positive health care outcomes.
For over 50 years, the Canadian Nurses Foundation has helped nurses learn, investigate and advance nursing best practices. We improve the delivery of health care by awarding scholarships to promising nursing students and nurses at all educational levels, and by funding nurse-led research that enhances the quality and efficacy of patient care.
Nurses look at the whole patient through the lens of social and economic determinants of health. The care nurses provide reflects how people live in their community and nurses often anchor the health care teams that work with patients.
If you want better health, better care and better value for all Canadians, then your investment in us is a wise one.
5 Critical Issues
This year, CNF’s MaskerAide will shine a spotlight on five critical issues facing the future of Canadian health care and the essential role nurses play.
The 5 areas of focus are:
Nurses have served as the primary administers of COVID-19 vaccines, placing them in a crucial role of being facilitators, advocates and educators on immunization.
Canadian Nurses Foundation funds research into the importance of immunization and need for new vaccine development, as well as training nurses on the value of immunization.
The expected shortage of 60,000 nurses in Canada by next year coupled with the intense toll COVID-19 has taken on the nursing profession makes the need to address nursing shortages a top health care priority in this country.
Canadian Nurses Foundation offers over 70 scholarships for nursing students across Canada in support of nursing education and training to help grow the number of Canadian nurses entering the profession and keep them in the profession.
Even pre-pandemic, keeping young nurses in the profession was challenging as reports suggested a loss of between 31 to 65% of newly graduated nurses within the first two years of their professional practice.
Statistics Canada recently found that seven in ten health care workers reported worsening mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadian Nurses Foundation currently funds and participates in various innovative programs aimed at supporting the mental health of nurses to help them manage increasing levels of stress and burnout.
Canadian Nurses Foundation launched Nurses’ Voices, a virtual program that provides mental health support for nurses as they navigate the ever-changing healthcare system where the new normalcy is uncertainty. Nurses Voices is an inclusive space for leaders, point of care staff, educators, and students from diverse cultural backgrounds and workplaces including long term care, acute care and community health.
To support new nurses entering the practice during this challenging time, Canadian Nurses Foundation in partnership with the Canadian Nurses Association, launched Nursing the Future, a virtual national network of support.
In the coming years, there will be more Canadians facing dementia, cognitive health issues, mobility challenges and other age-related illnesses than ever before. As nurses are instrumental in the everyday care of seniors, Canadian Nurses Foundation contributes funding to vital research and helps promote nurses in senior care so they can better help families and patients.
Canadian Nurses Foundation contributes funding for nurse-led research to the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) which will be a part of the anticipated breakthroughs in understanding, preventing, treating, and managing neurodegeneration and dementia.
Life expectancy for Indigenous People in Canada is up to 15 years shorter than non-Indigineous Canadians. Canadian Nurses Foundation supports nursing education and training to advance health care innovation for the specific needs of Indigenous communities.
To date, the Canadian Nurses Foundation has provided scholarships for over 200 Indigenous nurses.
The Canadian Nurses Foundation is a partner in the Indigenous Research Chairs in Nursing Initiative which will facilitate research on nursing issues affecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples in Canada.