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| level, clinical competencies, and education of the |
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| licensed nurses providing patient care services. |
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| Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act: |
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| "Critical care unit" means a unit that is established to |
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| safeguard and
protect
patients whose medical conditions are |
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| severe enough to require continuous
monitoring
and complex |
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| intervention by registered nurses.
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| "Employee" means any individual permitted to work by an |
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| employer in an
occupation, including both individuals hired |
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| directly by the company and those
hired
pursuant to a contract |
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| with an outside entity, such as a staffing agency.
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| "Employer" means any person or entity licensed under the |
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| Hospital Licensing
Act, or the parent or holding company of |
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| such person or entity, who directly or
indirectly, or through |
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| an agent or any other person, employs or exercises
control over
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| the wages, hours, or working conditions of any person.
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| "Health system" means a company (i) that is non-profit or |
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| for-profit,
religious or
non-religious and (ii) that owns, |
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| operates, or controls more than 2 hospitals.
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| "Hospital" means an entity licensed under the Hospital |
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| Licensing Act.
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| "Hospital unit" means a critical care unit, burn unit, |
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| labor and delivery
room,
postanesthesia service area, |
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| emergency department, operating room, pediatric
unit, |
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| step-down or intermediate care unit, specialty care unit, |
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| telemetry unit,
general
medical care unit, subacute care unit, |
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| and transitional inpatient care unit.
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| "Nurse" or "registered nurse" means a person licensed as a |
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| registered professional nurse or licensed practical nurse |
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| under the Nursing and Advanced Practice Nursing
Act.
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| "Organizational plan of nursing services" means a written |
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| plan of direct care nursing personnel staffing requirements |
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| that are appropriate to ensure all patients receive health care |
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| under normal and emergent circumstances. |
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| "Violation" means a finding by a court, governmental |
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| commission, or neutral
arbiter that wage and hour laws or |
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| regulations were violated.
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| "Wage and hour laws or regulations" means any State or |
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| federal law that
regulates the hours and wages paid or worked |
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| by registered nurses. |
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| Section 15. Registered nurse staff planning. Each hospital |
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| shall develop and
implement an organizational plan of nursing |
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| services. It shall be an
integral part of
the overall hospital |
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| organizational plan and shall be available to all nursing
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| personnel.
Each hospital shall have a process that ensures the |
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| consideration of input from
direct care
clinical staff in the |
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| development, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and
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| modification of the plan of nursing services. At least |
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| one-third of the members of the
committee
charged with |
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| developing, monitoring, evaluating, and modifying the plan |
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| shall be
nurses
who provide
direct
patient care. The |
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| organizational plan shall include:
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| (1) Competency validation for registered nurses based |
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| on the statutorily
recognized duties and responsibilities |
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| of the registered nurse and the standards
that are specific |
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| to each patient care unit.
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| (2) A patient classification system that establishes |
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| staffing requirements
by unit, patient, and shift; |
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| determines staff resource allocation based on nursing
care |
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| requirements for each shift and each unit; establishes a |
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| method by which the
hospital validates the reliability of |
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| the patient classification system; and
incorporates a |
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| method by which the hospital improves patient outcomes |
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| based on
clinical data.
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| (3) Written nursing service policies and procedures |
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| based on current
standards of nursing practice and |
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| consistent with the nursing process, which
includes: |
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| assessment, nursing diagnosis, planning, intervention, |
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| evaluation,
and
patient advocacy. The hospital |
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| administration and the governing body shall
review and |
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| approve all policies and procedures that relate to nursing |
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| service
at least once every 3 years.
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| The organizational plan may include a schedule for meal |
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| periods and rest
periods
different from those required by |
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| Section 20 of this Act, provided that such
schedule has
been |
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| approved by (and cannot be altered, suspended, or terminated |
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| without the
consent
of) the committee charged with developing, |
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| monitoring, evaluating, and
modifying the
organizational plan. |
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| The Department of Public Health may establish by rule
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| additional
criteria for organizational plans.
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| Section 20. Rest periods. Every hospital shall permit each |
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| employee to take
a
30-minute meal period and 2 10-minute rest |
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| periods during the first 7 1/2
hours of work,
and an additional |
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| 15 minutes of meal or break period time for each additional 2
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| hours
worked beyond the first 7 1/2 hours of work. If |
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| circumstances require an
employee to work
during or through a |
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| meal period or break period for which the employee would
have
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| received no compensation, then the employer shall pay the |
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| employee for the time
worked
without compensation at one and |
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| one-half times the employee's regular rate of
compensation. |
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| This Section 20 does not apply to employees for whom meal and
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| break
periods are established through a collective bargaining |
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| plan or pursuant to an
organizational plan schedule prepared in |
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| accordance with Section 15 of this
Act. This
Section does not |
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| apply to employees who monitor patients with developmental
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| disabilities or mental illness, or both, and who, in the course |
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| of those
duties, are required
to be on-call during the entire |
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| work period; provided, however, that such
employees shall
be |
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| permitted to eat a meal or meals during the work period while |
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| continuing to
monitor
those patients. |
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| Section 25. Violation of Act. The Director of Public |
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| Health, after notice and opportunity for
hearing, may deny, |
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| suspend, revoke, or place conditional provisions upon a
license |
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| of a
hospital in any case in which the Director finds that |
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| there has been a
substantial failure to
comply with the |
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| provisions of this Act. |
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| Section 30. Wage and hour provisions for registered nurses. |
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| (a) Any employer that is a health system as defined in this |
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| Act and commits
more than 500 violations of wage and hour laws |
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| or regulations for registered
nurses
within a 3-year period |
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| shall be fined up to 5% of gross hospital patient
revenues.
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| (b) The fine moneys shall be allocated to the Department of |
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| Public Health
for
nursing scholarships awarded pursuant to the |
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| Nursing Education Scholarship Law
in
addition to any other |
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| funds set aside and appropriated for that purpose.
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| (c) The Attorney General shall determine if 500 violations |
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| were committed
and
set the penalty based on the severity of the |
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| violations.
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon |
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| becoming law.".
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