(1) The program director must hold a current license in good standing as a registered nurse (RN) in the state of Washington.

(2) The commission may deny or withdraw a program director's approval if there is or has been any action taken against the director's health care license or any license held by the director which allows him or her to work with vulnerable populations.

(3) The program director must complete a training course on adult instruction or have demonstrated that he or she has one year experience teaching adults.

(a) Acceptable experience does not include in-service education or patient teaching.

(b) The training course on adult instruction must provide instruction in:

(i) Understanding the adult learner.

(ii) Techniques for teaching adults.

(iii) Classroom methods for teaching adults.

(iv) Audio visual techniques for teaching adults.

(4) The program director will have a minimum of three years of experience as an RN, of which at least one year will be in direct patient care.

(5) The program director must meet the requirements for additional staff under subsection (7)(b) of this section if the program director will also be acting as an instructor.

(6) Program director responsibilities:

(a) Develop and implement a curriculum which meets as a minimum the requirements of WAC 246-841-490. The program director is responsible for all classroom and clinical training content and instruction.

(b) Assure compliance with and assume responsibility for meeting the requirements of WAC 246-841-490 through 246-841-510.

(c) Assure that all student clinical experience is directly supervised. Direct supervision means that an approved program director or instructor is observing students performing tasks.

(d) Assure that the clinical instructor has no concurrent duties during the time he or she is instructing students.

(e) Create and maintain an environment conducive to teaching and learning.

(f) Select and supervise all other instructors involved in the course, including clinical instructors and guest lecturers.

(g) Assure that students are not asked to, nor allowed to, perform any clinical skill with patients or clients until first demonstrating the skill satisfactorily to an instructor in a practice setting.

(h) Assure evaluation of knowledge and skills of students before verifying completion of the course.

(i) Assure that students receive a verification of completion when requirements of the course have been satisfactorily met.

(7) The program director may select instructional staff to assist in the teaching of the course.

(a) Instructional staff must teach in their area of expertise.

(b) Instructional staff must have a minimum of one year experience within the past three years in caring for the elderly or chronically ill of any age or both.

(c) All instructional staff must hold a current Washington state license to practice as a registered or licensed practical nurse. The commission may deny or withdraw an instructor's approval if there is or has been any action taken against a health care license or any license held by the applicant which allows him or her to work with vulnerable populations.

(d) Instructional staff may assist the program director in development of curricula, teaching modalities, and evaluation. The instructor will be under the supervision of the program director at all times.

(e) A guest lecturer, or individual with expertise in a specific course unit may be used in the classroom setting for teaching without commission approval, following the program director's review of the currency of content. The guest lecturer, where applicable, must hold a license, certificate or registration in good standing in their field of expertise.

PDFWAC 246-841-470

Program directors and instructors in approved nursing assistant-certified training programs.