Nurse anesthetists: scope of practice.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide an effective date for the enactment of AB-876.

Nurse Anesthetists: What They Can Do

This law clarifies that nurse anesthetists can provide anesthesia services and manage patient care before, during, and after surgery.

What This Bill Does

• It explicitly authorizes nurse anesthetists to perform anesthesia services.
• It defines 'anesthesia services' as preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative care provided by a nurse anesthetist for patients receiving anesthesia ordered by a physician, dentist, or podiatrist.
• Under the bill, an order from a doctor, dentist, or podiatrist for anesthesia services is considered authorization for the nurse anesthetist to choose and adjust how they administer anesthesia during treatment.
• It specifies that administering medication before, during, and after surgery by a nurse anesthetist does not count as writing prescriptions.

Who It Names or Affects

• Nurse anesthetists working in healthcare facilities.
• Patients receiving anesthesia services from nurse anesthetists.

Terms To Know

anesthesia

Medicine that makes a person feel no pain during surgery or medical procedures.

preoperative care

Care given to patients before they have surgery.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify when it will take effect.
• It only applies to nurse anesthetists in California, not other states.

Official Summary Text

AB 876, Flora.
Nurse anesthetists: scope of practice.
Existing law, the Nurse Anesthetists Act, provides for the certification and regulation of nurse anesthetists by the Board of Registered Nursing. Existing law requires the utilization of a nurse anesthetist to provide anesthesia services in an acute care facility to be approved by the acute care facility administration and the appropriate committee, as defined, and at the discretion of the physician, dentist, or podiatrist. Existing law makes a nurse anesthetist who is not an employee of an acute care facility subject to the bylaws of the facility.
This bill would expressly provide that a nurse anesthetist is authorized to perform anesthesia services. The bill would define “anesthesia services” for purposes of the act to mean, among other things, preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative care and pain management provided by a nurse anesthetist for patients receiving anesthesia pursuant to an order by a physician, dentist, or podiatrist for anesthesia services. Under the bill, an order by a physician, dentist, or podiatrist for anesthesia services for a specific patient would be deemed the authorization for the nurse anesthetist to select and implement the modality of anesthesia for the patient and to abort or modify the modality of anesthesia during the course of care. The bill would provide
that the selection and administration of medication by a nurse anesthetist for preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative care and for pain management purposes pursuant to an order by a physician, dentist, or podiatrist shall not constitute a prescription as that term is defined in a specified provision of federal law.
The bill would state that the provisions of the Nurse Anesthetists Act are declaratory of existing law and of an advisory opinion, including specified case law.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF