A. 1. A nursing facility, specialized facility, continuum of care facility, assisted living center, adult day care or residential home, or facility operated by the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs, shall not employ as a nurse aide, on a full-time, temporary, per diem, or any other basis, any individual who is not certified as a nurse aide in good standing and is not eligible for placement on the nurse aide registry maintained by the State Department of Health.
2. The Department may grant a temporary emergency waiver to the provisions of this paragraph to any nursing facility, continuum of care facility, assisted living center or adult day care or residential home which can demonstrate that such facility, home or institution has been unable to successfully meet its staffing requirements related to the provisions of this paragraph.
B. Such waiver shall require the following:
1. An individual employed as a nurse aide who is enrolled in a Department-approved training and competency evaluation program for nurse aides shall successfully complete such training and competency evaluations within four (4) months of entering the training program;
2. The individual shall obtain certification, and the Department shall place the nurse aide on the registry within thirty (30) days after demonstration of competency;
3. Any nursing facility, specialized facility, continuum of care facility, assisted living center, adult day care or residential care home that employs an individual who is in nurse aide training, as provided in this section, shall ensure that the trainee shall:
4. No employer may use as a nurse aide an individual who has not completed the nurse aide training and competency program within the required four-month period.
C. For purposes of this section, "four (4) months" means the equivalent of four (4) months of full-time employment as a nurse aide by any employer in any nursing facility, specialized facility, continuum of care facility, assisted living center, adult day care or residential care home.
D. 1. The Department may grant a trainee a one-time extension of the four-month training requirement if:
2. The State Board of Health shall promulgate rules related to the review of and the process and conditions for such an extension.
E. 1. Certified medication aides, upon successful completion of competency standards or prescribed training courses, shall be eligible to distribute medications or treatments provided by paragraph 2 of this subsection within a:
2. Certified medication aides may:
3. The State Board of Health shall establish rules necessary to ensure the safety of medication administration by certified medication aides, including but not limited to:
4. Each facility shall develop policies and procedures that comply with the provisions of this subsection and rules promulgated by the State Board of Health. This policy shall be reviewed and approved by the facility Medical Director, Director of Nurses and/or Registered Nurse Consultant.
F. Any person convicted of violating any of the provisions of this section or Section 1-1950.1 of this title shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) nor more than Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00), imprisonment in the county jail for not more than thirty (30) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
Added by Laws 1991, c. 315, § 3, eff. Jan. 1, 1992. Amended by Laws 1999, c. 129, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 1999; Laws 2002, c. 230, § 15, eff. Nov. 1, 2002; Laws 2003, c. 429, § 3, emerg. eff. June 6, 2003; Laws 2004, c. 436, § 13, emerg. eff. June 4, 2004; Laws 2005, c. 460, § 12, eff. Nov. 1, 2005; Laws 2006, c. 79, § 2, emerg. eff. April 21, 2006; Laws 2011, c. 255, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2011; Laws 2013, c. 379, § 6, emerg. eff. May 29, 2013.
NOTE: Laws 2004, c. 420, § 1 repealed by Laws 2005, c. 1, § 92, emerg. eff. March 15, 2005.