2021 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 63. Public Health and Safety
§63-1-1950.3. Nurses aides - Employment of persons not licensed – Medication aides – Rules for medication administration.
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:
- a.complete the required training and competency program as provided in rules prior to any direct contact with a resident or client,
- b.not perform any service for which the trainee has not trained and been determined proficient by the instructor, and
- c.be supervised at all times by no less than a licensed practical nurse; and
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:
- a.such requirement causes an undue hardship for the trainee due to unusual circumstances or illness, and
- b.the trainee has demonstrated a good faith effort to complete the training and competency evaluation program.
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:
- a.correctional facility, as set forth in Section 623 of Title 57 of the Oklahoma Statutes,
- b.correctional facility operated by a contractor of the Department of Corrections,
- c.county or municipal jail,
- d.nursing facility,
- e.specialized facility,
- f.continuum of care facility,
- g.assisted living center,
- h.adult day care,
- i.residential care home, or
- j.facilities operated by the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs.
2. Certified medication aides may:
- a.perform fingerstick blood sugars,
- b.administer diabetic medications, including subcutaneous injections of insulin, provided that the certified medication aide has completed a Department-approved advanced training program on diabetes and the administration of diabetes medications, including injections,
- c.administer medications, first aid treatments and nutrition; by oral, rectal, vaginal, otic, ophthalmic, nasal, skin, topical, transdermal, and nasogastric/gastrostomy tubes routes, and
- d.administer oral metered dose inhalers and nebulizers;
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:
- a.competency and practice standards for medication aides,
- b.maintaining a list of skills and functions that medication aides will be able to perform upon completion of certification course work,
- c.certification and recertification requirements for medication aides,
- d.development of criteria and procedures for approval or disapproval of training and competency evaluation programs, and
- e.procedures for denying, suspending, withdrawing, or refusing to renew certification for a medication aide;
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.
