4723-27-08. Standard minimum curriculum for medication aide programs

(A) The approved curriculum for a training program for certified medication aides shall be the standard minimum curriculum set forth in paragraph (C) of this rule, and shall include all of the following:

(1) Program objectives and outcomes, course objectives or outcomes, teaching strategies, and core competencies or other evaluation methods that are:

(a) Consistent with the law and rules applicable to certified medication aides, as set forth in Chapter 4723. of the Revised Code and this chapter;

(b) Internally consistent;

(c) Implemented as written; and

(d) Made available to students in medication aide training programs;

(2) A curriculum plan showing the sequence of courses, laboratory experiences, and the number of clock hours allotted to instruction and laboratory experience related to medication administration;

(3) A curriculum content that is a minimum of eighty clock hours of didactic classroom, including laboratory experience, allocated as specified in paragraph (C) of this rule, and an additional forty clock hours of supervised clinical practice;

(4) For purposes of paragraph (A)(3) of this rule:

(a) During the didactic and laboratory component, students and instructors must be present in the same location, and the instruction must be provided in person rather than exclusively by means of video, audio, computer, multimedia, or electronic communications;

(b) Students must satisfactorily complete the didactic and laboratory component prior to participating in the supervised clinical component of the certified medication aide training program.

(B) A medication aide training program and board approved medication aide examination shall be structured in the following manner:

(1) A class of students shall complete the program in no fewer than twenty business days and no more than ninety business days;

(2) Within sixty days of satisfactorily completing the required classroom and supervised clinical practice components, the student shall take a board approved examination;

(3) The examination shall evaluate whether the student's reading, mathematical skills, and knowledge of the standard minimum curriculum are sufficient to administer prescription medications safely;

(4) A student who fails the examination may take the examination a second time within the six-month period immediately following notification of the examination results to the student and the training program;

(5) A student who fails the examination a second time must enroll or re-enroll, and satisfactorily complete, a board approved training program in order to be eligible to take the examination again.

(C) The standard minimum curriculum for certified medication aides shall include courses, content, and expected outcomes, relative to the defined role of the certified medication aide, in the following areas with the minimum number of course hours specified:

(1) Communication and interpersonal skills, four hours;

(2) Resident rights related to medication administration, including the right of a resident to refuse medications, one hour;

(3) The six rights of medication administration, three hours, including:

(a) The right person;

(b) The right drug;

(c) The right dose;

(d) The right time;

(e) The right route; and

(f) The right documentation.

(4) Drug terminology, storage and disposal, four hours, including:

(a) Medical terminology, symbols, accepted abbreviations;

(b) Dosage measurement;

(c) Reference resources;

(d) Principles of safe medication storage and disposal;

(5) Fundamentals of the following body systems, twenty hours, including:

(a) Gastrointestinal;

(b) Musculoskeletal;

(c) Nervous and sensory;

(d) Urinary/renal;

(e) Cardiovascular;

(f) Respiratory;

(g) Endocrine;

(h) Male and female reproductive; and

(i) Integumentary and mucous membranes;

(6) Basic pharmacology, drug classifications and medications affecting body systems, twelve hours, including:

(a) Purposes of various medications;

(b) Schedule III, IV, and V controlled substances;

(7) Safe administration of medications, twenty hours, including:

(a) Oral medications;

(b) Topical medications;

(c) Eye, ear, and nose medications;

(d) Vaginal medications;

(e) Rectal medications;

(f) Oral inhalants;

(g) Transdermal medications;

(h) Proper resident positioning;

(i) Measurement of apical pulse and blood pressure in association with routine medication administration;

(8) Principles of standard precautions including those set forth in Chapter 4723-20 of the Administrative Code, two hours;

(9) Documentation of medications in residents' clinical records, including as-needed medications, two hours;

(10) Circumstances in which a certified medication aide should report to, or consult with, a nurse concerning a resident or residents to whom medications are administered, four hours, including:

(a) The potential need of a resident for the administration of an as-needed medication, as evidenced by a resident's expression of discomfort or other indication;

(b) A resident exercising the right to refuse medication administration;

(c) Any deviation from the delegation of medication administration instructions;

(d) Any observation about the condition of a resident that should cause concern to a certified medication aide.

(11) Medication errors, four hours, including:

(a) Error prevention through promotion of safe medication administration practices;

(b) Timeliness and manner of reporting medication errors;

(12) The role of the certified medication aide as set forth in Chapter 4723. of the Revised Code and this chapter, four hours, including:

(a) The fact that administration of medication is a nursing function that may only be performed by a certified medication aide when it has been delegated by a nurse in accordance with the provisions of this chapter;

(b) The settings in which medications may be administered by certified medication aides;

(c) The types of medications that may be administered by certified medication aides as well as those that a certified medication aide may not administer; and

(d) The activities associated with the administration of medications that are prohibited for a certified medication aide.

(D) The supervised clinical practice component of an approved medication aide training program shall be sufficient to assure that students are prepared to administer medications as a certified medication aide in a safe and effective manner, and shall satisfy the following:

(1) The supervised clinical practice component shall consist of not less than forty clock hours, including experience in tasks related to the administration of medication, and shall be conducted under the direction and supervision of a nurse.

(2) The supervised clinical practice component shall take place in a nursing home or residential care facility with which the training program has a written agreement to provide nurse supervision of the student in accordance with this rule;

(3) While engaged in medication administration, a student shall be under the one-on-one direction and supervision of a nurse.

(4) During the supervised clinical practice, the nurse supervising the medication aide student shall inform the registered nurse program administrator of the student's progress in the supervised clinical practice.

(E) The training program shall assure that a medication skills checklist is maintained for each student to record performance during the supervised clinical practice and shall include the following:

(1) Each skill necessary to safely administer medications in accordance with this chapter;

(2) The date each skill is successfully demonstrated, or an indication that the student did not have an opportunity to perform the skill in a supervised clinical setting;

(3) The name and signature of the nurse who supervised the student's successful performance of the skill.

(F) The training program shall provide a copy of the medication skills checklist, certified by the program to be true and accurate, to each student upon completion of the medication aide training program.

(G) If a student did not have an opportunity to perform a skill listed on the medication skills checklist during the supervised clinical component of the training program the student shall comply with all of the following:

(1) Upon employment as a certified medication aide, provide the employer with a certified copy of the medication skills checklist;

(2) Refrain from performing any unchecked medication skill as a certified medication aide without direct nurse supervision until a nurse has observed satisfactory performance of the skill; and

(3) Obtain the signature of the nurse who observed satisfactory performance of the skill by the certified medication aide on the date indicated on the medication skills checklist.

Five Year Review (FYR) Dates: 12/19/2016 and 12/19/2021
Promulgated Under: 119.03
Statutory Authority: 4723.69
Rule Amplifies: 4723.61, 4723.64, 4723.65, 4723.651, 4723.652, 4723.653, 4723.66, 4723.67, 4723.68, 4723.69
Prior Effective Dates: 2/1/06 (Emer.), 5/1/06, 2/1/12, 2/1/13, 2/1/14

Prior History: (Effective: 02/01/2014
R.C. 119.032 review dates: 10/15/2016
Promulgated Under: 119.03
Statutory Authority: 4723.69
Rule Amplifies: 4723.61 to 4723.69
Prior Effective Dates: 02/01/2006 (Emer.), 05/01/2006, 02/01/2012, 02/01/2013)