NOC 31302: Nurse practitioners

Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses provide direct nursing care to patients, deliver health education programs and provide consultative services regarding issues relevant to the practice of nursing. They are employed in a variety of settings including hospitals, nursing homes, extended care facilities, rehabilitation centres, doctors' offices, clinics, community agencies, companies, private homes and public and private organizations or they may be self-employed.

Physician assistants and midwives provide primary health care and treatment in conjunction with physicians and in collaboration with other health professionals. Physician assistants provide a range of health services to patients delivering preventive and continuous care toward the management of patients' health. Midwives provide full-course care to women and their babies during the pre- and post-natal period. This unit group also includes professionals such as genetic counsellors, orthoptists and pathologists' assistants, who work in collaboration with primary health occupations. Genetic counsellors assess individual or family risk of genetic conditions, and provide information to individuals, families and healthcare providers to promote informed choice. Orthoptists diagnose and treat binocular disorders. Pathologists' assistants assist at autopsies and examinations of surgical specimens, or perform autopsies under a pathologist's supervision. Physician assistants usually work under physicians in private practice, including group or team practices, hospitals and clinics. Midwives are employed in hospitals, clinics, birthing centres or in private practice. Genetic counsellors usually work in private practice, hospitals, clinics and research institutes. Orthoptists work under an ophthalmologist, particularly in private practices or clinics. Pathologists' assistants are usually employed in hospitals and universities.

Other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating, who are not elsewhere classified, diagnose and treat the diseases and injuries of patients. This unit group includes doctors of podiatric medicine, naturopathic medicine and osteopathic medicine, and also includes chiropodists and podiatrists. They work in private practices, clinics and hospitals.

Occupational therapists develop individual and group programs with people affected by illness, injury, developmental disorders, emotional or psychological problems and aging to maintain, restore or increase their ability to care for themselves and to engage in work, school or leisure. They also develop and implement health promotion programs with individuals, community groups and employers. They are employed in health care facilities, in schools, and by private and social services agencies, or they may be self-employed.

Managers in health care plan, organize, direct, control and evaluate the delivery of health care services, such as diagnosis and treatment, nursing and therapy, within institutions, and in other settings, that provide health care services. They are employed in hospitals, medical clinics, nursing homes and other health care organizations.

Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine diagnose and treat diseases and physiological or psychiatric disorders and act as consultants to other physicians. Specialists in laboratory medicine study the nature, cause and development of diseases in humans. Specialists in clinical medicine usually work in private practice or in a hospital while those in laboratory medicine usually work in hospitals. Residents in training to become specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine are included in this unit group.