PHOENIX ÷ The governor has signed two bills into law that one nursing organization cautioned would suppress nursing wages and threaten patient safety.

House Bill 2256, which establishes a pilot program allowing certified nursing assistants to administer pills and topical medication to patients, and House Bill 2345, which creates minimum standards for training nutrition and feeding assistants in licensed care facilities, both received gubernatorial approval.

The Southern Arizona Nurses Coalition lobbied against the bills while the Arizona Nurses Association supported them.

The coalition argued that the bills effectively "de-skilled" duties that had until now been reserved for registered nurses.

"We think this will have a detrimental effect," said Valerie Gomes, coalition coordinator.

While the bill's sponsors say the legislation was prompted by a statewide nursing shortage, Gomes and her colleagues say it is a response to pressures from the health care industry that is looking to save money by using less-skilled workers.

"Often, nursing shortages occur because of conditions in the workplace," Gomes said, adding that many nurses refuse to work because of poor wages and heavy workloads.

"For them to take the work and de-skill it will make the situation even worse," Gomes said.

Gomes also said the laws will have legal implications because ultimately, registered nurses are liable for their patient's care, and mistakes made by less-skilled workers could affect their licensure.

The coalition, which represents 50,000 nurses in Arizona and California, sent letters to Gov. Janet Napolitano urging her to veto the bills, one that was sponsored by Rep. Deb Gullett, R-Phoenix, and the other by Rep. Bob Stump, R-Peoria.

Gullett said that her bill, the medication assistant pilot program, will do the opposite of what the coalition claims, allowing nurses to focus on more skill-intensive duties and making their lives easier.

"If we had all the nurses in the world, we wouldn't need this," Gullett said. "But we don't so this gives the nurses an opportunity to actually practice their craft."

Gullett said that safeguards in the bill, which keep assistants from dealing with high-risk patients or administering intravenous medicine, will ensure that the quality of care is not compromised.

The bills will likely affect nurses in long-term care facilities the most. Gullett said "a big chunk of time" is spent administering simple medication and feeding and hydrating patients in most hospices.

"My hope is that if they work in a long-term care facility, it makes life a little easier," Gullett said.

Many lawmakers chose to ignore the coalitions concerns with the bills because they had support from another nursing organization, the Arizona Nurses Association.

The association originally opposed Gullett's bill but backed it when Gullett agreed to hold a pilot program.

Association President Kathy Player said the new laws include safeguards that ensure nurses will be protected, including one that allows registered nurses to refuse to delegate the administration of medication to pilot study medication technicians if they believe that patient health and safety is at risk.

Nine other states, including Texas, Washington and Oregon, already use certified medical technicians, but to date, there hasn't been widespread research as to its effectiveness.

The pilot program will give Arizona a chance to see if such a program will in fact work, Player said.

"Because this practice is being done in nine other states without any study, we wanted to do this and really have valid data to see if this can work," Player said.

Napolitano established a Nursing Shortage Task Force in 2002 to address the mounting statewide shortage in nurses.

The 2000 census reported that the population of Arizona had grown by 30 percent in the past decade. But according to the governor's task force, the number of new registered nursing graduates in Arizona has remained the same in that period.