Nurse aide training program requirements

1. Any individual employed by a nursing facility to provide nursing or nursing-related services who is not a licensed nurse or volunteer or pursuing nurse aide certification and entry on the nurse aide registry must successfully complete a department-approved certified nurse aide training program consisting of a minimum of seventy-five hours and a department-approved competency evaluation or a department-approved competency evaluation. a. The certified nursing aide training program must be under the general supervision of a qualified instructor. (1) A qualified instructor for certified nurse aide training is a registered nurse with a minimum of two years of nursing experience, at least one year of which must be in the provision of long-term care facility services. (2) Instructors must have completed a course in teaching adults or have experience in teaching adults or supervising nurse aides. (3) In a nursing facility-based program, the director of nursing is prohibited from performing the actual training. However, a director of nursing who meets the qualified instructor requirements may provide the general supervision for the program. (4) Other health-related professionals who have a minimum of one-year experience in their field may supplement the instructor. b. Individuals employed by nursing facilities pursuing registration as a certified nurse aide must complete a minimum of sixteen hours of classroom training in the following areas from a department-approved nurse aide training program prior to any hands-on contact with residents or patients. The areas are: (1) Communication and interpersonal skills; (2) Infection control; (3) Safety and emergency procedures, including the Heimlich maneuver; (4) Promoting residents' independence; and (5) Respecting residents' rights. c. The remainder of the seventy-five-hour-approved training and competency evaluation program must be completed within four months of the date of first employment in the facility as a nurse aide and must include at least sixteen hours of supervised practical training. d. Other areas that are required to be addressed in the certified nurse aide training program include: (1) Basic nursing skills; (2) Personal care skills; (3) Mental health and social service needs; (4) Care of residents or clients with cognitive impairments; (5) Basic restorative services; and (6) Resident or patient rights. e. Individuals may not perform tasks for which competence has not been determined unless under the direct supervision of a licensed nurse. f. Individuals trained and determined proficient by the instructor to provide specific services to residents who have not completed the competency evaluation program shall provide these services under the general provision of a licenced nurse. g. The certified nurse aide training program must ensure that individuals in the training program who are employed by or have an offer of employment from a nursing facility to work as a certified nurse aide are not charged for any portion of the nurse aide training program, including fees for textbooks or other required course materials. 2. Any individual employed by a home health agency to provide home health aide services directly or by contract must successfully completed a home health aide training and competency evaluation program or competency evaluation program. a. The training program must total at least seventy-five clock hours, with at least sixteen of the seventy-five hours being devoted to classroom training prior to initiating the supervised practical training. At least sixteen hours of the total program hours must be devoted to supervised practical training. b. The training, including supervised practical training, of the home health aides must be performed under the general supervision of a qualified instructor. (1) A qualified instructor for a home health training program is a registered nurse who possesses a minimum of two years of nursing experience, at least one year of which must be in the in the provision of home health care services. (2) Other professionals may be used to provide instruction under the supervision of the qualified instructor. c. The training must, at a minimum, include the following topics: (1) Communication skills; (2) Observation, reporting, and documentation of patient status and care or services furnished; (3) Reading and recording of temperature, pulse, and respirations; (4) Basic infection control procedures; (5) Basic elements of body functioning and changes in body functioning that must be reported to an aide's supervisor; (6) Maintenance of a clean, safe, and healthy environment; (7) Recognizing emergencies and knowledge of emergency procedures; (8) The physical, emotional, and developmental needs of and ways to work with the patients served; (9) Patient rights; (10) Appropriate and safe techniques in personal hygiene and grooming which include: (a) Bed bath; (b) Sponge, tub, or shower bath; (c) Sink, tub, or bed shampoo; (d) Oral hygiene; and (e) Nail or skin care. (11) Safe transfer techniques and ambulation; (12) Normal range of motion and positioning; (13) Adequate nutrition and fluid intake; and (14) Any other tasks the agency may choose to have the home health aide perform. d. The agency must maintain sufficient documentation to demonstrate that the requirements for the training of home health aides of this section are met. 3. Any individual who is not a licensed nurse who is employed directly or by contract to provide nursing or nursing-related services by a health care facility or other setting that is not a nursing facility or a home health agency must successfully complete a nurse aide training program under the direction of a qualified instructor and competency evaluation or competency evaluation. a. A qualified instructor for a nurse aide training program is a licensed nurse. b. The training program must, at a minimum, include the following areas: (1) Infection control; (2) Safety and emergency procedures; (3) Collection and documentation of basic subjective and objective client data, including vital signs; (4) Activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, personal hygiene, oral hygiene, transfer, ambulation, toileting, and eating) applicable to setting. (5) Decisionmaking skills; (6) Client rights, including freedom from abuse, neglect, misappropriation of client property, respect, privacy, dignity, and confidentiality; (7) Communication and interpersonal skills; and (8) Care of the client with cognitive impairments. c. The nurse aide may not need to be retrained for each client cared for by the nurse aide, provided the nurse aide's knowledge and skills are maintained. d. Additional training must be provided to nurse aides by a qualified instructor for clients whose needs or conditions would require variation from the typical manner the nursing-related task would be performed. e. The nurse aide shall perform the delegated nursing-related task only on the client for whom the delegation is specified, exactly as taught, and in accordance with employers' policies or directives.