(1) A nursing home may not employ or use any person as a feeding assistant unless the person is at least 16 years of age and has:
- (a) Successfully passed a caregiver background check, that includes no employment or licensure-prohibitive offenses in s. 146.40 (4r), Stats., or s. 48.685, Stats.
- (b) Successfully completed a feeding assistant training and competency evaluation program and been determined competent to provide feeding and hydration services to residents.
- (2) Nursing homes shall ensure feeding assistants only serve residents who have no complicated feeding problems with eating and hydration.
- (3) Residents with complicated feeding problems, as defined in s. DHS 129.03 (10) shall be fed and hydrated by either a licensed health care professional or a nurse aide.
- (4) The facility shall base their resident selection for feeding assistants based on the charge nurse’s assessment and each resident’s latest assessment and plan of care.
- (5) Feeding assistants who are 16 or 17 years of age shall work under the direct supervision of an RN or LPN.
- (6) Feeding assistants 18 years and older shall work under the general supervision of an RN, or an LPN. The feeding assistant is not permitted to perform other nursing or nursing-related duties including, but not limited to, measuring or recording intake or output, transferring, or toileting, etc.
- (7) A nursing home may not employ or use any individual who has successfully completed a feeding assistant training and competency evaluation program as a feeding assistant unless that nursing home has a department-approved feeding assistant training program.
History
History: CR 08-042: cr. register November 2008 No. 635, eff. 12-1-08.