Bill Text: NJ A526 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires that all emergency departments have necessary pediatric equipment available.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-01-27 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee [A526 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2016-A526-Introduced.html

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ASSEMBLY, No. 526

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

217th LEGISLATURE

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2016 SESSION

 

 

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman  HOLLY SCHEPISI

District 39 (Bergen and Passaic)

Assemblyman  JOSEPH A. LAGANA

District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Requires that all emergency departments have necessary pediatric equipment available.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.

  

An Act concerning pediatric equipment in emergency departments and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    An emergency department of a licensed hospital in this State shall have the necessary monitoring devices, supplies and equipment to meet the needs of patients of all ages.  Availability of pediatric equipment shall be in accordance with the "Guidelines for Pediatric Equipment and Supplies for Emergency Departments," Committee on Pediatric Equipment and Supplies for Emergency Departments, National Emergency Medical Services for Children Resource Alliance. In the event that the guidelines are updated, the most recent edition shall apply.

 

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately.

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill provides that an emergency department of a licensed hospital in this State shall have the necessary monitoring devices, supplies and equipment to meet the needs of patients of all ages. Availability of pediatric equipment shall be in accordance with the "Guidelines for Pediatric Equipment and Supplies for Emergency Departments," issued by the Committee on Pediatric Equipment and Supplies for Emergency Departments, National Emergency Medical Services for Children Resource Alliance.  The bill specifies that the most recent edition of these guidelines shall apply, in the event that they are updated.

     The "Guidelines for Pediatric Equipment and Supplies for Emergency Departments," which were published in 1998 in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, identify minimum equipment and supplies necessary for appropriate care for ill and injured pediatric patients in emergency departments.  The guidelines were developed by a consensus process by a group of individuals representing the Committee on Pediatric Emergency Medicine of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Section on Surgery of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association for Respiratory Care, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American College of Surgeons, the American Hospital Association, the Ambulatory Pediatric Association, the Emergency Nurses Association, Kaiser Permanente Health System, the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions, the National EMSC Resource Alliance and the National Rural Health Association.

     This bill would codify rules and regulations for hospital licensure that have been adopted by the Department of Health and Senior Services.