West Virginia Code 16-5O-3 – Administration of medications; performance of health maintenance tasks; maintenance of liability insurance in facilities
(a) The secretary shall continue a program for the administration of medications and performance of health maintenance tasks in locations covered by this article. The program shall be developed and conducted in cooperation with the appropriate agencies, advisory bodies and boards.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 16-5O-3
- 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
- Authorized registered professional nurse: means a person who holds an unencumbered license pursuant to article seven, chapter thirty, and meets the requirements to train and supervise approved medication assistive personnel pursuant to this article, and has completed and passed the facility trainer/instructor course developed by the authorizing agency. 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
- Facility staff member: means an individual employed by a facility but does not include a health care professional acting within his or her scope of practice. 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
- Medication: means a drug, as defined in section one hundred one, article one, chapter . See West Virginia Code 16-5O-2
- Registered professional nurse: means a person who holds a valid license pursuant to article seven, chapter . 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
- Secretary: means the Secretary of the department or his or her designee. See West Virginia Code 16-5O-2
- Self-administration of medication: means the act of a resident, who is independently capable of reading and understanding the labels of drugs ordered by an authorized practitioner, in opening and accessing prepackaged drug containers, accurately identifying and taking the correct dosage of the drugs as ordered by the health care professional, at the correct time and under the correct circumstances. See West Virginia Code 16-5O-2
(b) Administration of medication or performance of health maintenance tasks shall be performed only by:
(1) Licensed health care professionals; or
(2) Facility staff members who have been trained and retrained every two years and who are subject to the supervision of and approval by an authorized registered professional nurse.
(c) After assessing the health status of an individual resident, a registered professional nurse, in collaboration with the resident's health care professional and the facility staff member, may recommend that the facility authorize a facility staff member to administer medication or perform health maintenance tasks if the staff member:
(1) Has been trained pursuant to the requirements of this article;
(2) Is considered by the authorized registered professional nurse to be competent;
(3) Consults with the authorized registered professional nurse on a regular basis; and
(4) Is monitored or supervised by the authorized registered professional nurse.
(d) An agency or facility employing personnel for the purposes of supervising the administration of medication or the performance of health maintenance tasks shall maintain liability insurance for the licensed health care provider, any facility staff member who has been trained and is employed to administer medication or perform health maintenance tasks and if applicable the health care provider's collaborative supervising physician.
(e) Nothing in this article may be construed to prohibit any facility staff member from administering medications or performing health maintenance tasks, or providing any other prudent emergency assistance to aid any person who is in acute physical distress or requires emergency assistance.
(f) Supervision of self-administration of medication by facility staff members who are not licensed health care professionals may be permitted in certain circumstances, when the substantial purpose of the setting is other than the provision of health care.