Nurses: implicit bias courses.

Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, requires the Board of Registered Nursing to prepare and maintain a list of approved schools of nursing in this state whose graduates are eligible to apply for a license to practice nursing. Existing law specifies that an approved school of nursing, or an approved nursing program, is one that has been approved by the board, gives the course of instruction approved by the board, covering not less than 2 academic years, is affiliated or conducted in connection with one or more hospitals, and is an institution of higher education. This bill would require an approved school of nursing or an approved nursing program to include direct participation in one hour of implicit bias training, as specified, as a requirement for graduation. The bill would prohibit that provision from being construed to require a curriculum revision or to affect the requirements for licensure or endorsement under the Nursing Practice Act. Existing law requires a person holding a regular renewable license under the act, whether in an active or inactive status, to renew their license and pay the biennial renewal fee, as specified. Existing law requires a person renewing their license to submit proof satisfactory to the board that, during the preceding 2-year period, they completed specified continuing education requirements, unless the licensee is still within the first 2 years of holding their license immediately following their initial licensure. This bill would, starting January 1, 2023, require a licensee still within the first 2 years of holding their license immediately following their initial licensure to complete one hour of direct participation in an implicit bias course, as specified, offered by a continuing education provider that has been approved by the board. Existing law requires a hospital that provides perinatal care, and an alternative birth center or a primary clinic that provides services as an alternative birth center, to implement an evidence-based implicit bias program, as specified, for all health care providers involved in perinatal care of patients within those facilities. This bill would require a hospital, as defined, to implement an evidence-based implicit bias program, as specified, as part of its new graduate training program that hires and trains new nursing program graduates. Under the bill, a hospital that hires and trains new nursing program graduates involved in the perinatal care of patients, as specified, that complies with existing implicit bias program requirements on hospitals that provide perinatal care, would meet the implicit bias program requirements with respect to those new nursing program graduates involved in the perinatal care of patients.