Around one in 400 school-age children has diabetes. If I had to make a guess, given the rise in childhood obesity, that number will almost certainly grow.
Many of those children need to take insulin. If they can stick themselves, fine. If they can't, who's going to stick them when they're at school and need a shot?
The American Nurses Association would like it to be a nurse. An actual nurse. Both because they think they can do it better and because, not surprisingly, the American Nurses Association would like more jobs for nurses.
Strapped school districts don't want to pay for nurses. They'd like trained volunteers to be allowed to stick the kids.
The children just want their shots.
Who wins?
School districts. The California Supreme Court unanimously holds that state law allows trained volunteers to administer insulin shots in school, as long as the parents and the kid's doctor are okay with it. That doesn't count as the unauthorized practice of nursing under state law.
