Appendix A: California Department of Education (CDE) K.C. Settlement Agreement and Legal Advisory
not permitted to do so solely by force of the Board ’ s regulations. Compliance with those other
laws would also be necessary.
In contrast, no such law prohibits unlicensed persons from administering prescription
medications generally, or insulin in particular, in carrying out the medical orders of licensed
physicians. The Nurses attempt to find such a rule in the Nursing Practice Act (Bus. & Prof.
Code, § 2700 et seq.) (NPA), which defines the practice of nursing to include a list of patient
care functions including “the administration of medications” ( id ., § 2725, subd. (b)(2)), and
prohibits the unauthorized practice of nursing ( id ., § 2732). In opposition, the Association
contends the listed functions fall within the definition of nursing practice only under
circumstances where they “require a substantial amount of scientific knowledge or technical
skill.” ( id ., § 2725, subd. (b) [“The practice of nursing within the meaning of this chapter means
those functions, including basic health care, that help people cope with difficulties in daily living
that are associated with their actual or potential health or illness problems or the treatment
thereof, and that require a substantial amount of scientific knowledge or technical skill ,
including all of the following: . . .” (italics adde d).].) The routine administration of insulin
outside of hospitals and clinical settings, the Association observes, does not require substantial
scientific knowledge or technical skill and is, in fact, typically accomplished by the patients
themselves, including some children, or by friends and family members.
We need not speak to the definition of nursing practice in order to resolve this case.
However broadly the NPA may define the practice of nursing, and whatever the NPA may
correlatively prohibit as unauthorized practice, the NPA expressly exempts from that prohibition
“[t]he performance by any person of such duties as required in . . . carrying out medical orders
BP 2006 – Provision of Healthcare Services
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Desert Mountain Special Education Local Plan Area (DMSELPA) (rev. 11/16)
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