Okla. Stat. tit. 63, § 63-1-1950.3

Medication aides – Rules for medication administration.

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 63. Public Health and Safety Page 761

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

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 63. Public Health and Safety Page 762

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-
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,

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 63. Public Health and Safety Page 763

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.