Curriculum Guidelines

INTRODUCTION: The 1987 Omnibus Reconciliation Act (OBRA) mandates education and competency evaluation for all nurse aides employed by nursing facilities in all states. This Kentucky Medicaid Nurse Aide Curriculum Guide meets the course requirements of the applicable Medicaid regulation (42 CFR 483.152). This seventy-five (75) hour nurse aide training program includes a minimum of sixteen (16) hours of supervised clinical instruction.

Sixteen (16) hours of training in the following areas are required prior to any direct contact with the resident

1. Communication and interpersonal skills
2. Infection control
3. Safety/emergency procedures, including clearing the obstructed airway - conscious adult
4. Promoting resident’s independence
5. Respecting resident's rights
   1. providing privacy and maintenance of confidentiality
   2. promoting the resident’s right to make personal choices to accommodate their needs
   3. giving assistance in resolving grievances and disputes
   4. providing needed assistance in getting to and participating in resident and family groups and other activities
   5. maintaining care and security of resident’s personal possessions
   6. promoting the resident’s right to be free from abuse, mistreatment, and neglect, and the need to report any instances of such treatment to appropriate facility staff
   7. avoiding the need for restraints in accordance with current professional standards

The remaining theory/lab hours include the following:

1. Personal care skills
   1. transfers, positioning, and turning
   2. caring for the resident’s environment
   3. bathing
   4. grooming, including mouth care
   5. dressing
   6. skin care
   7. bedmaking
   8. assisting with eating and hydration
   9. proper feeding techniques
   10. toileting, including specimen collection
2. Basic nursing skills
   1. taking and recording vital signs
   2. measuring and recording height and weight
   3. recognizing abnormal changes in body functioning and the importance of reporting such changes to a supervisor
3. Mental health and social service needs
   1. modifying aide’s behavior in response to resident’s behavior
   2. awareness of developmental tasks associated with the aging process
   3. how to respond to resident behavior
   4. allowing the resident to make personal choices, providing, and reinforcing other behavior consistent with the resident’s dignity
   5. using the resident’s family as a source of emotional support
4. Care of congnitively impaired residents
   1. techniques for addressing the unique needs and behaviors of individuals with dementia
   2. communicating with cognitively impaired residents
   3. understanding the behavior of cognitively impaired residents
   4. appropriate responses to the behavior of cognitively impaired residents
   5. methods of reducing the effects of cognitive impairments
5. Basic restorative services
   1. training the resident in self-care according to the resident’s abilities
   2. use of assistive devices in transferring, ambulation, eating, and dressing
   3. maintenance of range of motion
   4. proper turning and positioning in bed and chair
   5. bowel and bladder training
   6. care and use of prosthetic and orthotic devices
6. Caring for residents when death is imminent