83R21566 JSC-D
By: N. Gonzalez of El Paso H.B. No. 1829
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, and other direct-care staff members
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
direct-care staff members in the identification, assessment, and
control of risks of injury to patients, [and] nurses, and other
direct-care staff members during patient handling and movement,
including training on:
(A) the proper use of lifting devices and
equipment;
(B) proper manual lifting technique;
(C) the benefit of team lifts and potential risks
of single-person lifts; 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) restrict [(4) 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;
(4) provide for [(5)] collaboration with and annual
report to the nurse staffing committee;
(5) prohibit retaliation or discrimination against a
nurse or other direct-care staff member who refuses [(6) procedures
for nurses to refuse] to perform or be involved in patient handling
or movement that the nurse or other direct-care staff member
believes in good faith will expose a patient or a nurse or other
direct-care staff member to an unacceptable risk of injury;
(6) 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, and
other direct-care staff members associated with the lifting,
transferring, repositioning, or movement of a patient; and
(7) [(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.