SENATE FILE _____

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES BILL BY CHAIRPERSON RAGAN)

A BILL FOR

An Act requiring hospitals and outpatient surgical facilities to report data on the use of a registered nurse as a circulating nurse during surgical procedures and including effective date provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

   Section 1.  NEW SECTION.  135.75A  Data reporting on circulating nurse in operating room.
   1.
  a.  A hospital or outpatient surgical facility, as defined in section 135.61, shall keep written records regarding the use of circulating nurses in each separate operating room where surgery is being performed.
   b.  For purposes of this section,“circulating nurse” means a registered nurse, qualified by training and experience in operating room nursing, who is present in an operating room where surgery is being performed for the duration of the operative procedure. Instances of a circulating nurse leaving the operating room as part of the operative procedure, leaving the operating room for short periods or, in accordance with employer rules or regulations, being relieved during an operative procedure by another circulating nurse assigned to continue the operative procedure shall not disqualify the nurse from being a circulating nurse.
   2.  The data collected pursuant to subsection 1 shall be made available to the public at least annually. A circulating nurse shall assist the administration of the nurse’s employing facility in complying with this section.
   Sec. 2.  EFFECTIVE UPON ENACTMENT.  This Act, being deemed of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.
EXPLANATION
   This bill requires the collection and public reporting of patient safety data regarding hospitals’ and outpatient surgical facilities’ use of a registered nurse in the role of a circulator that is present to assure quality care of the patient during surgery.