Failure to Ensure Nurse Aide Competency and Training Enrollment
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that a staff member working as a nurse aide (NA) met the minimum competency requirements as outlined by state and federal regulations. Specifically, one staff member was hired to work full-time as an NA without having completed a state-approved nurse aide training program, passed a certification exam, or undergone a competency evaluation prior to providing direct care to residents. Record review showed that this staff member was not enrolled in a state-approved training program at the time of hire and had not completed a skills competency checklist. The Director of Nursing (DON) confirmed that the staff member had only recently attempted to enroll in a hybrid online program but was advised to attend an in-person program at a later date. Despite this, the staff member was scheduled and assigned NA tasks over multiple shifts. Interviews with the Administrator and DON revealed that the facility did not have an in-house state-approved NA training program and routinely hired staff to work as NAs before enrolling them in external training programs. The Administrator stated that staff were allowed to perform all NA duties during their first four months of employment, regardless of their enrollment status in a training program. This practice continued after the expiration of a pandemic-related waiver, under the mistaken belief that staff could still work for four months before certification as long as they eventually enrolled in a program. The facility's approach did not comply with the requirement that staff must be actively participating in a state-approved NA program during the four-month grace period.