Automatic removal from registry

(a) The Department shall automatically remove any nurse aide from the Department's automated telephone system the day after certification expires, if the nurse aide failed to request renewal of certification by the day the certification expires. (b) If any nurse aide requests renewal of certification and there has been a continuous period of twenty- four (24) consecutive months during none of which the individual provided nursing or health related services for monetary compensation, the individual shall complete a new training and competency evaluation or a new competency evaluation program, whichever option they choose, to become recertified. The Department shall automatically remove any nurse aide from the Nurse Aide Registry if there has been a continuous period of twenty-four (24) consecutive months during which the nurse aide has not provided at least eight (8) hours of nursing or health related services for compensation. The nurse aide shall produce documentation of work upon request for renewal of certification. (c) The aide shall not be removed from the registry if the individual's registry notation has a pending or permanent finding of abuse, neglect, mistreatment, or misappropriation of property. (d) If a nurse aide has been removed from the registry due to failure to renew certification and no more than forty-eight (48) months have passed since the date of the last renewal, and the nurse aide cannot produce documentation of at least eight (8) hours of nursing or health related services for compensation, the nurse aide shall complete a new nurse aide training and competency evaluation program or just the competency evaluation, both the written and skills examination. This will be the choice of the nurse aide. (e) A nurse aide may renew certification for up to forty-eight months from the date of the last renewal, if the nurse aide is able to produce documentation of eight (8) hours of nursing or health related services for compensation within twenty-four (24) months after expiration. (f) If the nurse aide failed to renew certification for more than forty-eight months since the last renewal, and is unable to produce documentation of compensated employment providing nursing or health related services, the nurse aide shall complete a new nurse aide training and competency evaluation program to be reinstated in the registry. (g) The Department shall review when requested and may grant an exception in removing any nurse aide from the nurse aide registry pursuant to OAC 310:677-5-4(b) if the nurse aide has completed a practical or registered nursing education program after certification and files with the Department a waiver application form, which requires the following information: (1) Individual's full name; (2) Telephone number and address to include street, city, state, and zip code; (3) Photocopy of Social Security card; (4) Photocopy of a diploma from an approved practical or registered nurse program; and (5) Type of nurse aide certification requesting to be waived. (h) Upon receipt of the waiver application form, the Department shall verify the following information: (1) The nurse aide/LPN/RN student has completed a practical or registered nursing education program after certification; (2) The individual is in good standing with the Oklahoma Board of Nursing, or the individual does not have confirmation of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of patient/resident/client property; (3) The individual is not a subject of a current ongoing investigation by the Oklahoma Board of Nursing or the Oklahoma Attorney General or other known legal entity; and (4) The individual has no restrictions preventing sitting for the nursing board exam. (i) The Department shall automatically remove a nurse aide from the nurse aide registry and place them in the archive database if there has been a continuous period of forty-eight (48) consecutive months in which the nurse aide has not applied for renewal of certification, unless the individual's registry notation has a pending or permanent finding of abuse, neglect, mistreatment, or misappropriation of property. The individual shall complete a new nurse aide training and competency examination to be reinstated in the registry. (j) The Department shall review and may grant an exception to place an individual, who failed to renew certification, back on the registry if the individual can produce documentation of continuous employment for the past forty-eight (48) months in a hospital, the Advantage Program through the Department of Human Services, or an entity that does not require certification of nurse aides.