Paid feeding assistants

Any individual employed by a facility, or under contract, to feed or assist with the feeding of nursing facility residents must either have successfully completed a department-approved paid feeding assistant training course or be a certified nurse aide. 1. Instructors of a department-approved paid feeding assistant course must meet the following requirements: a. The primary instructor of the program must be a licensed health care professional with experience in the feeding of nursing facility residents. b. Certified nurse aides and paid feeding assistants may not be used as instructors in a department-approved paid feeding assistant course. 2. A department-approved paid feeding assistant course must have a curriculum which contains, at a minimum, eight hours of training. 3. The course must, at a minimum, include the following: a. Feeding techniques. b. Assistance with feeding and hydration. c. Communication and interpersonal skills. d. Appropriate responses to resident behavior. e. Safety and emergency procedures, including the Heimlich maneuver. f. Infection control. g. Resident rights. h. Recognizing changes in residents that are inconsistent with their normal behavior and the importance of reporting those changes to the supervisory nurse. 4. The instructor must verify in writing the successful completion of the course, including a competency evaluation of feeding skills, by the individual. The process for evaluation of successful completion of the course must be included in the materials submitted to the department for review and approval. 5. The nursing facility must maintain a record of all individuals used by the nursing facility as paid feeding assistants who have successfully completed a department-approved paid feeding assistant training course. 6. The nursing facility must ensure that paid feeding assistants feed only residents who have no complicated feeding problems. Complicated feeding problems include difficulty swallowing, recurrent lung aspirations, and tube or parenteral intravenous feedings. 7. The charge nurse must assess the residents to determine which residents may be fed by a paid feeding assistant. This assessment must be documented and the use of the paid feeding assistant to feed the resident must be included in the residents' plan of care. 8. The nursing facility must ensure that paid feeding assistants work under the supervision of a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse. In an emergency, a paid feeding assistant must call a supervisory nurse for help using the resident call system if the nurse is not present during the feeding of a resident. 9. The nursing facility must ensure that the ongoing competency of paid feeding assistants is evaluated and documented at least annually. 10. The initial department approval of a paid feeding assistant course shall be determined based on the review of the information submitted by the nursing facility for compliance with these requirements. 11. The nursing facility must notify the department and receive approval of any subsequent changes in the curriculum or primary instructor of the course. 12. The department shall determine continued compliance with these requirements during an onsite visit to the nursing facility. 13. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in loss of department approval for a paid feeding assistant course to be offered by the nursing facility.