Pupil health: individuals with exceptional needs: respiratory services.

Existing law, the Respiratory Care Practice Act, prohibits a person from engaging in the practice of respiratory care unless the person is a licensed respiratory care practitioner, except for specified respiratory care functions, including, among others, the performance of suctioning and other basic respiratory tasks and services by a licensed vocational nurse under the supervision of a credentialed school nurse, as provided.

Existing law authorizes individuals with specified qualifications and meeting certain requirements to assist an individual with exceptional needs who requires specialized physical health care services, as defined, during the regular schoolday. Existing law also authorizes a licensed vocational nurse, under the supervision of a credentialed school nurse, to assist an individual with exceptional needs who requires specialized physical health care with the basic respiratory services authorized by the Respiratory Care Practice Act.

This bill would repeal the authorization for a licensed vocational nurse, under the supervision of a credentialed school nurse, to assist an individual with exceptional needs with the above-described basic respiratory services authorized by the Respiratory Care Practice Act. The bill would instead authorize individuals, if they have the qualifications and meet the requirements referenced above for providing specialized physical health care services to an individual with exceptional needs, to provide a defined set of basic respiratory services to those individuals.