| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to safe patient handling and movement practices at |
|
|
hospitals and nursing homes. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 256.002(b), Health and Safety Code, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(b) The policy shall [establish a process that, at a
|
|
|
minimum, includes]: |
|
|
(1) include an analysis of the risk of injury to both |
|
|
patients and nurses posed by the patient handling needs of the |
|
|
patient populations served by the hospital or nursing home and the |
|
|
physical environment in which patient handling and movement occurs; |
|
|
(2) require education of nurses and other staff in |
|
|
the identification, assessment, and control of risks of injury to |
|
|
patients and nurses during patient handling and movement, including |
|
|
training on: |
|
|
(A) the proper use of lifting devices and |
|
|
equipment; |
|
|
(B) proper manual lifting technique; |
|
|
(C) the five areas of body exposure, including |
|
|
vertical, lateral, bariatric, repositioning, and ambulation; and |
|
|
(D) [(3) evaluation of] alternative ways to |
|
|
reduce risks associated with patient handling, including the use |
|
|
[evaluation] of equipment for moving patients and the use of the |
|
|
environment; |
|
|
(3) require supervision of a registered nurse of all |
|
|
patient handling or movement, regardless of whether moving |
|
|
equipment is used; |
|
|
(4) restrict [restriction], to the extent feasible |
|
|
with existing equipment and aids, [of] manual patient handling or |
|
|
movement of all or most of a patient's weight to emergency, |
|
|
life-threatening, or otherwise exceptional circumstances; |
|
|
(5) require any necessary manual patient handling or |
|
|
movement to be conducted by two-person lift teams and prohibit |
|
|
manual patient handling by a staff member acting alone, unless the |
|
|
patient weighs less than 50 pounds; |
|
|
(6) require collaboration with and annual report to |
|
|
the nurse staffing committee; |
|
|
(7) prohibit retaliation or discrimination against a |
|
|
staff member who refuses [(6) procedures for nurses to refuse] to |
|
|
perform or be involved in patient handling or movement that the |
|
|
staff member [nurse] believes in good faith will expose a patient or |
|
|
a staff member [nurse] to an unacceptable risk of injury; |
|
|
(8) implement a quality oversight body within the |
|
|
facility for enforcement of safe patient handling practices; |
|
|
(9) require [(7)] submission of an annual report to |
|
|
the governing body or the quality assurance committee on activities |
|
|
related to the identification, assessment, and development of |
|
|
strategies to control risk of injury to patients and nurses |
|
|
associated with the lifting, transferring, repositioning, or |
|
|
movement of a patient; and |
|
|
(10) [(8)] in the development of [developing] |
|
|
architectural plans for constructing or remodeling a hospital or |
|
|
nursing home or a unit of a hospital or nursing home in which |
|
|
patient handling and movement occurs, require consideration of the |
|
|
feasibility of incorporating patient handling equipment or the |
|
|
physical space and construction design needed to incorporate that |
|
|
equipment at a later date. |
|
|
SECTION 2. A hospital or nursing home shall adopt and |
|
|
implement a policy required by Section 256.002(b), Health and |
|
|
Safety Code, as amended by this Act, not later than January 1, 2014. |
|
|
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives |
|
|
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as |
|
|
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this |
|
|
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this |
|
|
Act takes effect September 1, 2013. |