West Virginia Code 16-5O-10 – Limitations on medication administration or performance of health maintenance tasks
The following limitations apply to the administration of medication or performance of health maintenance tasks by facility staff members:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 16-5O-10
- Administration of medication: means :
(1) Assisting a person in the ingestion, application or inhalation of medications, including prescription drugs, or in the use of universal precautions or rectal or vaginal insertion of medication, according to the legibly written or printed directions of the attending physician or the health care professional in accordance with subdivision sixty-one, section four, article five, chapter . See West Virginia Code 16-5O-2
- Facility: means an intermediate care facility for individuals with an intellectual disability, assisted living, behavioral health group home, private residence in which health care services and health maintenance tasks are provided under the supervision of a registered professional nurse as defined in article seven, chapter . See West Virginia Code 16-5O-2
- Family: means biological parents, adoptive parents, foster parents, or other immediate family members living within the same household. See West Virginia Code 16-5O-2
- Health care professional: means a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathy, a podiatrist, registered professional nurse, practical nurse, advanced practice registered nurse, physician'. See West Virginia Code 16-5O-2
- Health maintenance tasks: means performing the following tasks according to the legibly written or printed directions of a health care professional or as written on the prescription label, and making a written record of that assistance with regard to each health maintenance task administered, including the time, route and amount taken:
(1) Administering glucometer tests. See West Virginia Code 16-5O-2
- Judgment: includes decrees and orders for the payment of money, or the conveyance or delivery of land or personal property, or some interest therein, or any undertaking, bond or recognizance which has the legal effect of a judgment. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Medication: means a drug, as defined in section one hundred one, article one, chapter . See West Virginia Code 16-5O-2
- Natural supports: means family, friends, neighbors or anyone who provides assistance and support to a resident but is not reimbursed. See West Virginia Code 16-5O-2
- Resident: means a resident of a facility who for purposes of this article, is in a stable condition. See West Virginia Code 16-5O-2
(a) Injections or any parenteral medications may not be administered, except that prefilled insulin or insulin pens may be administered;
(b) Irrigations or debriding agents used in the treatment of a skin condition or minor abrasions may not be administered;
(c) No verbal medication orders may be accepted, no new medication orders shall be transcribed and no drug dosages may be converted and calculated;
(d) No medications ordered by the health care professional to be given "as needed" may be administered unless the order is written with specific parameters which preclude independent judgment; and,
(e) Health maintenance tasks for the performance of tracheostomy care and ventilator care is not permitted in an intermediate care facility for individuals with an intellectual disability, assisted living, behavioral health group home, private residence where the resident is not residing with family and/or natural supports.