California Business and Professions Code 1647 – (a) The Legislature finds and declares that a commendable …
(a) The Legislature finds and declares that a commendable patient safety record has been maintained in the past by dentists and those other qualified providers of anesthesia services who, pursuant to a dentist’s authorization, administer patient sedation, and that the increasing number of pharmaceuticals and techniques used to administer them for patient sedation require additional regulation to maintain patient safety in the future.
(b) The Legislature further finds and declares all of the following:
Terms Used In California Business and Professions Code 1647
- moderate sedation: means a drug-induced depression of consciousness during which a patient responds purposefully to verbal commands, either alone or accompanied by light tactile stimulation, no interventions are required to maintain a patient's airway, spontaneous ventilation is adequate, and cardiovascular function is usually maintained. See California Business and Professions Code 1647.1
- State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Business and Professions Code 21
(1) That previous laws enacted in 1980 contained separate and distinct definitions for general anesthesia and the state of consciousness.
(2) That in dental practice, there is a continuum of sedation used which cannot be adequately defined in terms of consciousness and general anesthesia.
(3) That the administration of sedation through this continuum results in different states of consciousness that may or may not be predictable in every instance.
(4) That in most instances, the level of sedation will result in a predictable level of consciousness during the entire time of sedation.
(c) The Legislature further finds and declares that the educational standards presently required for deep sedation and general anesthesia should be required when the degree of sedation in the continuum of sedation is such that there is a reasonable possibility that loss of consciousness may result, even if unintended. However, achieving the degree of moderate sedation, where a margin of safety exists wide enough to render unintended loss of consciousness unlikely, requires educational standards appropriate to the administration of the resulting predictable level of consciousness.
(Added by Stats. 2018, Ch. 929, Sec. 6. (SB 501) Effective January 1, 2019. Operative January 1, 2022, pursuant to Section 1647.12.)