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Healthcare · Helping & Teaching

Nurse practitioner: what the job actually is

A registered nurse with advanced education who assesses, diagnoses and treats patients, often as the first person they see.

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Nurse practitioner: quick facts

Nurse practitioner salary in Ontario: the median pay is $62.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is very good. The job usually needs a university degree.

Median pay in Ontario
$62.00 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$40.00 to $75.00 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Very good
People working in it in Ontario
3,750
Usually needs
Usually a university degree

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 31302. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • A nurse who has gone further than the registered nurse programme: more education, more responsibility, and a patient list that is partly yours rather than a shift you hand over at the end of the day.
  • Job Bank describes the work as providing a range of health services and delivering preventive and continuing care. In practice that means seeing people, working out what is going on, deciding what to do about it and following them up.
  • You are a nurse first. The route in runs through registered nursing, so there is no way to start at nurse practitioner at 18. Everyone on this page has already done the RN job.
  • Job Bank says nurse practitioners work with physicians and other health professionals but may also work independently, in settings that include community health centres, hospitals, clinics, long-term care and rehabilitation centres.
  • The title is protected. The College of Nurses of Ontario says only members in the Extended Class can use the title Nurse Practitioner, and you cannot practise as one without registering.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 8:00 — Look at today's list. Three follow-ups, two new problems, one person you have been worried about since last week.
  2. 8:30 — First patient. Listen for four minutes before you touch anything; most of the diagnosis is in the story.
  3. 9:15 — Examine, decide, explain the plan in words the person can repeat to their family tonight.
  4. 10:00 — Chart it properly. If it is not written down, it did not happen, and the next person has to be able to read it.
  5. 11:00 — Results back for yesterday's bloodwork. One is not what you hoped, so you phone the patient instead of leaving it for the next visit.
  6. 12:15 — Lunch at the desk, answering referral questions from a colleague.
  7. 13:00 — A patient with several long-term conditions and a list of medications that has grown for years. This visit is mostly about simplifying.
  8. 14:30 — Someone arrives frightened about something that turns out to be minor, and your job is to say so without making them feel foolish.
  9. 15:45 — A patient you cannot fix in this room. You write the referral, then spend ten minutes making sure they understand why and what happens next.
  10. 17:00 — Finish the charts that did not get finished at the time. The day ends later than the schedule says it does.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You like working out what is wrong with someone, and you like it more when the answer is not obvious.
  • You want to stay close to patients rather than move into management or teaching, but you want more say in the decisions.
  • You can say "I do not know yet, here is how we find out" to a worried person without flinching.
  • You are comfortable being responsible for a decision, not just carrying out one.
  • You are prepared to be a nurse for a while first and treat that as the first half of the plan, not a delay.
You may hate this if
  • You are in a hurry. You must be a registered nurse first, and the NP education and the practice experience come on top of that.
  • You want a clear line between nursing and medicine. The edges of the role are argued about, and you will explain what an NP is to patients, and sometimes to colleagues.
  • You do not want the weight of decisions. When you are the one deciding, the worry comes home with you.
  • You dislike paperwork. Charting, referrals, prescriptions and follow-up are a large part of the day.
  • You want shift work to end at the shift. Your patients keep being your patients when the clinic closes.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Become a registered nurse first

    The College of Nurses of Ontario's NP registration guide requires that you are registered as an RN in the General Class in Ontario, or hold equivalent status elsewhere in Canada or the US. Our registered nurse page covers that first leg.

  2. Complete an approved NP education programme

    Job Bank gives the education as a master's degree in nursing, or a nursing programme with additional advanced or extended primary health care education, plus several years of practice as a registered nurse. Check the exact programme and its entry requirements on the university's own page, because they vary by school.

  3. Show recent advanced practice and pass the registration exams

    The CNO guide lists evidence of recent advanced nursing practice with direct client interaction, the NP registration examination and an NP jurisprudence examination. The exam details and fees are on the CNO's own pages; we have not repeated them here.

  4. Register in the Extended Class

    Registration with the CNO is compulsory. The CNO says it gives applicants two years from the date it confirms receipt of both the application and the fee to finish all the requirements before the file closes.

Where this comes from: College of Nurses of Ontario — Nurse practitioner registration guide · Job Bank — Nurse practitioner requirements in Ontario · Job Bank — Nurse practitioner summary in Ontario

The money

Nurse practitioner salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$40.00
Low (hourly)
$62.00
Median (hourly)
$75.00
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 31302. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Nurse practitioner wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Very good5 out of 5 stars

  • Employment growth will lead to several new positions.
  • A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

What is changing in this work

  • Increased need for health-related services to support the growing and aging population in Ontario
  • Greater demand on the health care system because of the backlog of medical procedures and patient care needs
  • Major investments in health care facilities

Who hires for it

  • The majority are employed in health care, notably in hospitals; offices of physicians and out-patient care centres are also key employers
3,750
people work in this job in Ontario
92%
are women (48% across all jobs)
5%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Nurse practitioners job prospects in Ontario (NOC 31302). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take the sciences and the maths your nursing programmes ask for. Look up the entry requirements for a nursing degree now, while you can still pick the courses.
  • Volunteer somewhere that puts you around patients: a hospital volunteer programme, a long-term care home, a seniors' centre. Volunteer hours also count toward your diploma, which is what our volunteer hours guide covers.
  • Ask your school about a Specialist High Skills Major in health and wellness or a health-related co-op placement. If your school does not offer one, ask what the nearest school does.
  • Learn a first-aid certification. It is small, it is concrete, and you find out whether you stay calm.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Watch the work and read the two registration pages

About 90 minutes
  1. Search for a recorded talk or day-in-the-life video by an Ontario nurse practitioner, and watch one all the way through. Write down the first moment you felt interested and the first moment you felt bored.
  2. Open the College of Nurses of Ontario's nurse practitioner registration guide and read the requirements. Count the steps between you and registration, out loud, to someone or to yourself.
  3. Open our registered nurse page and read it too. You will be one before you are the other, so ask yourself whether you would be happy being the first one for a good while.

What it tells you. If the video held your attention and the long ladder of steps felt like a reasonable price, nursing first and the NP later is a real plan worth taking to a guidance counsellor. If the diagnosing part left you cold but the caring part did not, registered nursing may be the destination, and that is a good answer rather than a failed one.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What do you do in a day that you could not do as a registered nurse?”
  2. “How long were you a nurse before you became a nurse practitioner, and would you shorten that?”
  3. “What does a decision you were nervous about early on look like now?”
  4. “How much of your week is charting, referrals and follow-up rather than seeing patients?”
  5. “What do people get wrong about what a nurse practitioner is allowed to do?”
  6. “What would you tell a 17-year-old who wants this but has not started nursing?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Not in the way a dentist can. Job Bank puts most nurse practitioners in health care settings, notably hospitals, with offices of physicians and out-patient care centres also key employers. Some nurse practitioners do lead clinics, but how that is funded and run in Ontario changes, so ask a working NP rather than relying on a page that will be out of date.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a nurse practitioner make in Ontario?

The median pay for a nurse practitioner in Ontario is $62.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $40.00 to $75.00 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a nurse practitioner in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as very good for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment growth will lead to several new positions. A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements. There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a nurse practitioner in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a university degree. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Become a registered nurse first; Complete an approved NP education programme; Show recent advanced practice and pass the registration exams.

Where does a nurse practitioner work in Ontario?

The majority are employed in health care, notably in hospitals; offices of physicians and out-patient care centres are also key employers. (Job Bank.)

How many people work as a nurse practitioner in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 3,750 people working in this job in Ontario. 92% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

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Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.