Introduction

The mission statement of the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) is to lead nursing education and nursing scholarship in the interest of healthier Canadians. CASN is a non-profit corporation, and does not engage in commercial activities generally, let alone commercial use of its information.
Furthermore,

• its members are institutions, not persons; and
• its collection of information, such as it is, is exclusively for statistical or scholarly study or research.

For the above reasons, it is the Association’s understanding that its information is not “personal information” as foreseen in the privacy act legislation. CASN has nonetheless adopted a formal privacy policy, for the following reasons. First, there are occasional instances of information which might exceptionally be considered personal. Furthermore, CASN supports responsible governance, and has drafted the following privacy policy in that light.

General Context for Information

As part of its programs and services, CASN collects data to support nursing education and nursing scholarship for the purposes of planning, administrating, forecasting and reporting.

Data collection may include student levels, faculty levels, educational offerings, curriculum content, areas of research expertise and international linkages. Contact information and curriculum vitae for deans, directors, faculty and researchers may be collected from time to time for specific projects.

All data are collected on a volunteer basis via school administrators or their designate. Data are aggregated to the level of programs and schools. Only researcher information is identifiable at the individual level; however, this information is also submitted voluntarily.

Data collected on nursing education and nursing scholarship are public and included in project reports, fact sheets, newsletters and web-surveys. Any fees charged by CASN for reports, are on a cost-recovery basis.

Any personal information collected from individuals as “raw data” or as part of CASN employee files is held within CASN in confidential files with access restricted to the respective National Office staff. The following are specific examples.

Specific Information

The following are the specific types of information assembled and used by CASN:

A. Contact information for member institutions. This is used for communications only.

B. Directory (contact information) of members of the CASN Board of Directors and Board of Accreditation(including the latter’s “pool” of prospective accreditation reviewers), CASN committees, and other individuals who represent CASN on special purpose bodies and assignments.

C. Information on the credentials of persons in category (B). This is obtained to help explain the qualifications of these individuals for their respective positions in CASN. It is henceforth CASN’s policy to obtain the consent of the candidates for such positions, for that purpose. This information is not retained after these individuals have left office.

D. Information on research projects in the field of nursing, being conducted by researchers. This often includes the amount and source of the research grants involved. This is disseminated for mutual support, to reduce the risk of duplication, and to assist the cause of research grantsmanship generally. This information is collected from institutions, and it is the latter who take responsibility for obtaining whatever consents are necessary from the researchers involved. After approximately five years, this information is archived, but may be accessed to track patterns of historical evolution in research.

E. Information on research interests of the individuals associated with CASN, The listing of individuals with similar interests facilitates networking. It is CASN’s policy to obtain the consent of the individuals involved for that purpose. The information about a given individual’s research interests is not retained after that individual has ceased to be associated with CASN or has otherwise indicated that he/she is no longer interested in networking for that purpose.

F. Surveys of remuneration for nursing program Deans/Directors: CASN conducts these periodic surveys, with the written consent of the participants. Information is aggregated to protect the anonymity of the participants. After approximately five years, this information is archived, but may be accessed to track patterns of historical evolution while retaining anonymity.

G. Surveys of opinions of researchers and other opinion-leaders concerning nursing research in Canada. CASN conducts these periodic surveys, with the written consent of the participants. Completed surveys themselves are sent to a private consultant and the results do not reveal individual responses, and the researcher is contractually bound to destroy the evidence linking individuals with a given opinion, once the latter has been aggregated.

H. Conference and meeting registrations (contact information for attendees). This is used exclusively to assist check-in, unless participants also indicate (in writing) their interest in networking under (E) above.

I. Sales records contact and purchase information for those who have ordered products (e.g. publications) from CASN. This does not, however, include credit card information/records, as CASN does not accept credit card payment. It is retained for seven years in case it is needed for e.g. tax purposes.

J. Awards information, including testimonials and descriptions of qualifications: this information is used only for the purposes of the awards in question. Authorization for the use of same must be signed by the nominee. The names of certain individuals connected with the entrant may be contained in the entry forms themselves. This information is not retained after the issue of the award.

K. Minutes of meetings of the Board of Directors are available to the members. Members of the Board of Directors consent to having their statements/opinions disseminated in this way, when they join the Board.

L. The CASN office has personnel information concerning its own employees. This information is used exclusively for staffing/personnel purposes. It is retained for seven years in case it is needed for e.g., tax purposes.

CASN does not sell its list of institutional members to third parties. It does not share its list of institutional members with third parties, under the terms of the CASN Policy on Distribution of CASN Member School Contact Information, except on a one-time emergency basis as defined in that policy.

Security

• At the CASN office, the designated privacy officer is the Executive Director.
• The system is secure.
• An institutional member may request access to their own membership records at any time.