Request By:
Mrs. Doris McDowell, R.N.
Executive Director
Kentucky Board of Nursing Education and Nurse Registration
6100 Dutchmans Lane
Louisville, Kentucky 40205
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Martin Glazer, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion of this office as to the legality of nurses, registered nurses and licensed practical nurses administering anesthesia in the delivery room of an obstretical department under certain limited and controlled conditions in which:
"(1) Nitrous oxide and oxygen are the only types of anesthesia to be administered.
(2) Administration is via open system anesthesia machine and mask.
(3) Administered under the direct supervision of a physician, with the physician instructing the nurse how much anesthetic and when.
(4) Anesthetic is administered only at the time of crowning or immediate delivery; is ceased upon delivery, and oxygen administered.
(5) Administration by nurses limited to the Delivery Room of the Obstetrical Department.
(6) Nurses who have instruction in the use of the machine, safety measures, possible dangers, and possible patient reactions prior to giving anesthesia. "
For the purposes of this opinion, we assume that these nurses are not specifically trained in administering anesthesia other than "on the job training" by a physician, that the administration of an anesthetic is not in a surgical setting.
We enclose copies of previous opinions which have, in effect, indicated that a nurse may administer anesthesia. On the basis that these nurses are going to administer the anesthesia under the direct and present supervision of a physician, we see nothing in the statutes which would prevent their doing so. We might reach a different conclusion if the nurses were performing this activity when the physician was not present or doing so under a surgical situation without the proper training as a nurse anesthetist.