Bill Text: CA SB1042 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Health facilities and clinics: clinical placements: nursing.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2024-08-15 - August 15 hearing: Held in committee and under submission. [SB1042 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SB1042-Amended.html

Amended  IN  Senate  May 16, 2024
Amended  IN  Senate  April 17, 2024
Amended  IN  Senate  April 03, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 1042


Introduced by Senator Roth
(Coauthor: Senator Caballero)

February 07, 2024


An act to add Article 1 (commencing with Section 127750) to Chapter 1 of Part 3 of Division 107 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to nursing.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1042, as amended, Roth. Health facilities and clinics: clinical placements: nursing.
Existing law establishes the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) to oversee health planning and health policy research, including the health care workforce research and data center. Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, establishes the Board of Registered Nursing within the Department of Consumer Affairs for the licensure and regulation of nurses. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities and clinics, as defined, by the State Department of Public Health.
Existing law requires an organization that operates, conducts, owns, or maintains a health facility, and the officers thereof, to make and file with HCAI certain reports, including balance sheets and other financial statements. Existing law sets forth related reporting provisions for clinics.
This bill would require a health facility or a clinic, whether or not it currently offers prelicensure clinical placement slots, to meet with representatives from an approved school of nursing or approved nursing program, upon request by the school or program, to discuss the clinical placement needs of the school or program. The bill would require a nursing school or program, program, by December 31 of each year, to report to the board the beginning and end dates of the academic term all academic terms within the subsequent calendar year for each clinical slot needed by a clinical group with content area and education level, and the number of clinical slots that the school or program has been unable to fill. fill within the preceding calendar year. The bill would require the board to submit that information to HCAI.
The bill would require a health facility or a clinic, whether or not it currently offers prelicensure clinical placement slots, to prepare and submit to HCAI a report, with updates, on clinical placements for nursing students. Under the bill, the report would include, among other things, the estimated number of days and shifts available that will be made available within the subsequent calendar year for student use for each type of licensed bed or unit. unit, as specified. The bill would require HCAI to post the report on its internet website in a manner that allows for the information in the report to be cross-referenced against the above-described information from the nursing school or program.
The bill would authorize the board, upon request by a nursing school or program, to assist in finding and securing clinical placement slots to meet the clinical placement needs of that school or program, by conferring with health facilities or clinics within the appropriate geographic region of each school or program in an attempt to match available clinical placement slots with needed slots and to encourage the creation of new clinical placement slots at additional clinical training sites to meet school or program demands. If the board attempts to meet clinical placement needs, the bill would require the board to prioritize the requests for assistance from the approved nursing schools or programs of community colleges and California State University campuses. The bill would require the board to report a summary of any assistance provided and the outcome of that assistance.
The bill would prohibit any attempt to create or secure additional clinical placement slots by the board, a health facility, or a clinic from supplanting or disrupting the clinical placement of any nursing student for whom a clinical placement is already in progress or has already been scheduled.
The bill would condition implementation of its provisions on an appropriation. The bill would also make related legislative findings.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) To graduate from a nursing school or program, students must complete units in both theoretical coursework and hands-on clinical experience. Existing law requires that 500 of a nursing student’s clinical hours be in a direct patient care model in a clinical setting approved by the Board of Registered Nursing (BRN).
(b) Direct patient care means providing services to a live patient, which can include both in-person and telehealth services. As a result, clinical placements occur within a health facility, clinic, or other health care setting and require agreements between nursing schools or programs and the health care partners for placement of students.
(c) The availability of student placements for clinical experiences is based on clinical settings, such as hospitals or clinics, that are willing to accept and teach students. The settings must have staff that are qualified to teach and supervise students, and often develop contracts with partnering schools or programs to outline responsibilities, liability, and expectations. As a result, clinical placements are often difficult to find.
(d) The California State Auditor Report 2019-120 on the BRN found that, due to a lack of reliable data, the BRN lacked critical information about the location and availability of clinical placement slots. Therefore, the California State Auditor recommends that the BRN require nursing schools or programs to annually update information about the clinical settings that they use for student placements.
(e) Collecting data on clinical placement needs of nursing schools or programs and comparing the data with the availability of clinical placement slots at health facilities or clinics would provide the information necessary for the BRN to properly match scarce clinical placements with the nursing students who need them.

SEC. 2.

 Article 1 (commencing with Section 127750) is added to Chapter 1 of Part 3 of Division 107 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
Article  1. Nursing Clinical Placements

127750.
 For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Approved school of nursing” and “approved nursing program,” or variations thereof, have the same meaning as set forth in Section 2786 of the Business and Professions Code.
(b) “Board” means the Board of Registered Nursing, unless otherwise specified.
(c) “Clinic” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 1200. “Clinic” includes a primary care clinic and a specialty clinic, as described in Section 1204.
(d) “Department” means the Department of Health Care Access and Information, unless otherwise specified.
(e) “Health facility” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 1250.

127751.
 Implementation of this article shall be subject to an appropriation made by the Legislature for the purpose of this article.

127752.
 (a) A health facility or a clinic, whether or not it currently offers prelicensure clinical placement slots, shall, upon request by an approved school of nursing or an approved nursing program and regardless of whether the school or program is public or private, meet with representatives from the school or program to discuss the clinical placement needs of the school or program. The health facility or clinic and the school or program shall work together in good faith to meet the demands of the school or program to educate and train nursing students.
(b) By the end of its respective academic term, December 31 of each year, an approved school of nursing or an approved nursing program, regardless of whether the school or program is public or private, shall report to the Board of Registered Nursing the following information:
(1) The beginning and end dates of the academic term all academic terms within the subsequent calendar year for each clinical slot needed by a clinical group with content area and education level.
(2) The number of clinical slots that the school or program has been unable to fill. fill within the preceding calendar year.
(c) (1) Following receipt of the information required by subdivision (b) and utilizing the data reported pursuant to Section 127753, the board may, upon request by an approved school of nursing or approved nursing program, assist in finding and securing clinical placement slots to meet the clinical placement needs of that school or program, regardless of whether the school or program is public or private, by conferring with health facilities or clinics within the appropriate geographic region of each school or program in an attempt to match available clinical placement slots with needed slots and to encourage the creation of new clinical placement slots at additional clinical training sites to meet school or program demands. Under those circumstances, the health facilities or clinics involved may elect to make those existing or new, but unused, clinical placement slots available.
(2) If the board attempts to meet clinical placement needs pursuant to paragraph (1), the board shall prioritize the requests for assistance from the approved schools of nursing or approved nursing programs of community colleges and California State University campuses.
(3) The board shall report, through the board’s Education/Licensing Committee, a summary of any assistance provided pursuant to this subdivision and the outcome of that assistance.
(d) Any attempt to create or secure additional clinical placement slots by the board, a health facility, or a clinic pursuant to this section shall not supplant or disrupt the clinical placement of any nursing student for whom a clinical placement is already in progress or has already been scheduled.
(e) This section shall not be construed to limit, prevent, or justify the approval or denial of new schools of nursing or the expansion of approved nursing programs.

127753.
 (a) A health facility or a clinic, whether or not it currently offers prelicensure clinical placement slots, shall prepare a report on clinical placements for nursing students. The health facility or clinic shall submit the report to the Department of Health Care Access and Information, with updated reporting at the times as the department shall require, on a form specified by the department in accordance with, if applicable, the systems of accounting and uniform reporting required by Part 5 (commencing with Section 128675).
(b) The report described in subdivision (a) shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following information:
(1) Estimated number of days and shifts available that will be made available within the subsequent calendar year for student use for each type of licensed bed or unit. unit in the health facility or clinic, including, but not limited to, days and shifts available in the following areas of study:
(A) Geriatrics.
(B) Medical-surgical.
(C) Mental health/psychiatric nursing.
(D) Obstetrics.
(E) Pediatrics.
(2) Number of days and shifts being utilized within the preceding calendar year for student use for each type of licensed bed or unit. unit in the health facility or clinic, including, but not limited to, days and shifts available in the areas of study listed in paragraph (1).
(3) Name of the academic institution with an approved school of nursing or nursing program utilizing each type of licensed bed or unit. unit reported in paragraph (2).
(c) If a prelicensure clinical placement slot is available or filled for a period of time that begins in one reporting period, but ends in another reporting period, the slot shall be reported for the period in which the student began the clinical placement and not for the reporting period in which the student ended the clinical placement.
(d) (1) The Board of Registered Nursing shall submit the information described in subdivision (b) of Section 127752 to the department.
(2) The department shall post the report described in this section with the information described in subdivision (b) of Section 127752 on the department’s internet website in a manner that allows for the information described in subdivision (b) of this section to be cross-referenced against the information described in subdivision (b) of Section 127752.

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