BATON ROUGE — A proposal to create a class of nursing home workers who can dispense oral medications without having to be licensed practical nurses cleared a Louisiana House of Representatives committee Wednesday.
The "medical aides" provided for in House Bill 246 could help nursing homes cope with the shortage of nurses, said state Rep. Charles McDonald, D-Bastrop, author of the measure.
There were 26,970 people living in Louisiana nursing homes as of May 1, according to the state Department of Health and Hospitals.
The medical aides would have to undergo training to be developed by the Louisiana State Nurses Association in cooperation with the Louisiana Nursing Home Association.
The aides, who would be supervised by licensed practical nurses, would be empowered to dispense only oral medication, not IVs or shots.
"This is an opportunity to try something new that has been tried and is being utilized in Texas and other states," McDonald said. The proposal would require that the program be reviewed in three years to see if it is working effectively.
