Florida Senate - 2022 SB 1828
By Senator Jones
35-01721B-22 20221828__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to surgical technology and central
3 service technician services; creating part XVII of ch.
4 468, F.S., entitled “Surgical Technology and Central
5 Service Technician Services”; providing legislative
6 intent; defining terms; authorizing health care
7 facilities to employ or otherwise retain the services
8 of persons to perform surgical technology or central
9 service technician services if they meet specified
10 criteria; providing construction; authorizing central
11 service technicians to satisfy certain requirements
12 within a specified timeframe after their date of hire;
13 providing continuing education requirements for
14 central service technicians; providing requirements
15 for such continuing education; requiring health care
16 facilities to verify in writing the dates of
17 employment or contract periods for central service
18 technicians, upon written request; providing
19 construction; providing an effective date.
20
21 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
22
23 Section 1. Part XVII of chapter 468, Florida Statutes,
24 consisting of sections 468.91, 468.93, 468.95, and 468.97,
25 Florida Statutes, is created to read:
26
27 PART XVII
28 SURGICAL TECHNOLOGY AND CENTRAL SERVICE
29 TECHNICIAN SERVICES
30
31 468.91 Legislative intent.—The sole legislative purpose for
32 enacting this part is to ensure that every new surgical
33 technologist or central service technician employed in this
34 state meets minimum requirements for safe practice as a member
35 of a surgical care team. It is the intent of the Legislature
36 that surgical technologists or central service technicians who
37 fall below minimum competency or who otherwise present a danger
38 to the public health and safety be prohibited from practicing in
39 this state.
40 468.93 Definitions.—As used in this part, the term:
41 (1) “Central service technician” means a person who
42 decontaminates, inspects, assembles, packages, and sterilizes
43 reusable medical instruments or devices being used by a health
44 care facility.
45 (2) “Health care facility” means a hospital or an
46 ambulatory surgical center as those terms are defined in s.
47 395.002.
48 (3) “Health care practitioner” means a person licensed or
49 certified under chapter 457; chapter 458; chapter 459; chapter
50 460; chapter 461; chapter 462; chapter 463; chapter 464; chapter
51 465; chapter 466; chapter 467; part I, part II, part III, part
52 IV, part V, and part XIV of chapter 468; chapter 478; chapter
53 480; chapter 483; chapter 485; chapter 486; chapter 490; or
54 chapter 491.
55 (4) “Surgical technologist” means a person who provides
56 surgical technology services and is not a health care
57 practitioner.
58 (5) “Surgical technology” means surgical services,
59 including, but not limited to, the following:
60 (a) Preparing the operating room and the sterile field for
61 surgical procedures by ensuring that surgical equipment is
62 functioning properly and safely and using sterile techniques to
63 prepare supplies, instruments, and equipment.
64 (b) Intraoperative care and response to the needs of a
65 health care practitioner by monitoring the sterile field and
66 providing the required instruments or supplies.
67 (c) Performance of tasks at the sterile field in an
68 operating room setting, including:
69 1. Passing supplies, equipment, or instruments.
70 2. Sponging or suctioning an operative site.
71 3. Preparing and cutting suture material.
72 4. Transferring and irrigating with fluids.
73 5. Transferring, but not administering, drugs within the
74 sterile field.
75 6. Handling specimens.
76 7. Holding retractors.
77 8. Assisting in counting sponges, needles, supplies, and
78 instruments.
79 468.95 Training and certification requirements for surgical
80 technologists.—
81 (1) A health care facility shall only employ or otherwise
82 retain the services of a person to perform surgical technology
83 if such person:
84 (a) Has successfully completed an accredited surgical
85 technologist program and holds and maintains a certified
86 surgical technologist credential administered by the National
87 Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting or its
88 successor;
89 (b) Has successfully completed an accredited surgical
90 technologist program, but has not, as of the date of hire,
91 obtained the certified surgical technologist certification
92 required in paragraph (a), provided that such certification
93 shall be obtained within 12 months after the graduation date;
94 (c) Was employed as a surgical technologist in a health
95 care facility on or before December 31, 2022; or
96 (d) Has successfully completed a surgical technologist
97 program in the United States Army, Navy, or Air Force or as a
98 surgical technologist in the commissioned corps of the United
99 States Public Health Service which has been deemed appropriate
100 by the State Surgeon General.
101 (2) This section does not prohibit a health care
102 practitioner from performing surgical technology services if he
103 or she is acting within the scope of his or her license or
104 certification.
105 468.97 Training and certification requirements for central
106 service technicians.—
107 (1) A health care facility shall only employ or otherwise
108 retain the services of a person to perform as a central service
109 technician if such person has successfully passed a nationally
110 accredited exam for central service technicians and:
111 (a) Holds and maintains one of the following credentials
112 administered by a nationally accredited central service
113 technician credentialing organization:
114 1. A certified registered central service technician
115 credential.
116 2. A certified sterile processing and distribution
117 technician credential; or
118 (b) Provides evidence that he or she was employed by or
119 provided services of a central service technician to a health
120 care facility on or before December 31, 2022.
121 (2) A central service technician who does not meet the
122 requirements of subsection (1) shall have 18 months from the
123 date of hire to obtain the certified registered central service
124 technician credential or the certified sterile processing and
125 distribution technician credential.
126 (3) A person who qualifies as a central service technician
127 in a health care facility under subsection (1) must annually
128 complete at least 10 hours of continuing education credits to
129 continue employment as a central service technician. The
130 continuing education required under this subsection shall be in
131 the area related to the functions of a central service
132 technician.
133 (4) A health care facility shall, upon the written request
134 of a central service technician, verify, in writing, the central
135 service technician’s dates of employment or the contract period
136 during which the central service technician provided services to
137 the health care facility.
138 (5) This section does not prohibit the following persons
139 from performing the tasks or functions of a central service
140 technician:
141 (a) A health care practitioner if he or she is acting
142 within the scope of his or her license or certification.
143 (b) A student or intern if he or she is performing the
144 functions of a central service technician under the direct
145 supervision of a health care practitioner as part of the
146 student’s or intern’s training or internship.
147 (c) A person who holds or maintains a registration,
148 certification, or license from a nationally accredited
149 credentialing organization to perform health services.
150 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.