Senate sends student-led health sciences training bill to governor

Legislation that would enhance training opportunities for health science students passed unanimously out of the Senate today with a vote of 48-0.

HB 1726 is a student-led bill put forward by a group of WSU College of Pharmacy students seeking to widen the scope of possible preceptors allowed to supervise students performing basic medical care services at health fairs and other such events. Currently students must be supervised by a professional from their own discipline in order to provide any type of health care service, but this has led to a number of lost opportunities for students if a preceptor in their designated field is unavailable or forced to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances. HB 1726 would limit these situations from occurring and allow for increased opportunities for inter-professional training by allowing students in the fields of pharmacy, medicine, and nursing to be supervised under certain circumstances by preceptors licensed in any of these disciplines.

The bill previously passed off the House floor with a unanimous vote of 95-0. In February, the ASWSU Health Sciences students leading the bill testified on the benefits of this legislation and shared the monumental amount of work they put into constructing the bill in partnership with several state and national stakeholders. The bill will now head to the Governor’s desk for his consideration.