SB 796: Emergency medical services: state-employed public safety personnel: optional first aid skills.

Existing law requires specified lifeguards, firefighters, and peace officers to be trained to administer first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Existing law requires the training to meet standards prescribed by the Emergency Medical Services Authority, and to be provided at no cost to the lifeguard or firefighter employee. Existing regulations authorize those lifeguards, firefighters, and peace officers to perform specified optional first aid and CPR skills if the lifeguard, firefighter, or peace officer has been trained and tested to demonstrate competence and if authorized by the medical director of the local emergency medical services agency.

This bill would require the authority to act as the authorizing entity for the optional first aid and CPR training skills for the lifeguards, firefighters, and peace officers described above that are employed by a state agency, and would require the authority to develop and implement quality assurance and improvement measures, as specified, to ensure the safe and effective use of those skills.