This bill allows the director of an approved nursing program to submit a request to a Board of Registered Nursing educational consultants to revise clinical experience requirements during the 2020-2021 academic year. A director may also submit a request during a state of emergency in which an agency or facility used by an approved nursing program for direct patient care clinical practice is located and is no longer available due to the conditions giving rise to the state of emergency.
The director of an approved nursing program may request to utilize a clinical setting during the 2020-2021 year or a state of emergency without approval from the Board of Registered Nursing, written agreements with clinical faculty, or submitting evidence of compliance with board regulations.
The director may also request to utilize preceptorships without having to maintain written policies identifying preceptor selection criteria, providing for a preceptor orientation program, identifying preceptor qualifications, describing preceptorship responsibilities, and planning for ongoing evaluation for preceptor use.
The director may also request to reduce the required number of direct patient care hours to 50 percent in geriatrics and medical-surgical and 25 percent in mental health-psychiatric nursing, obstetrics, and pediatrics if all of the following conditions are met:
There is no alternative agency or facility that has a sufficient number of open placements that are available and accessible within 25 miles of the approved nursing program for direct patient care clinical practice hours in the same subject matter area.
The substitute clinical practice hours not in direct patient care provide a learning experience that is at least equivalent to the learning experience provided by the direct patient care clinical practice hours.
Once the applicable state of emergency has terminated the temporary reduction shall cease as soon as practicable or by the end of the academic term, whichever is sooner.
The substitute clinical practice hours not in direct patient care that are simulation experiences are based on the best practices published by the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, or equivalent standards approved by the board.
A maximum of 25 percent of the direct patient care hours in geriatrics and medical-surgical may be completed via telehealth.
The director may also request that the approved nursing program allow theory to precede clinical practice if all of the following conditions are met:
No alternative agency or facility located within 25 miles of the impacted approved nursing program, campus, or location, has a sufficient number of open placements that are available and accessible to the approved nursing program for direct patient care clinical practice hours in the same subject matter area.
Clinical practice takes place in the academic term immediately following theory.
The theory is taught concurrently with clinical practice not in direct patient care if no direct patient care experiences are available.
Because this was an urgency bill, this bill took effect on September 29, 2020.
(AB 2288 adds Section 2786.3 to the Business and Professions Code.)