MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION BY MEDICATION ASSISTANT

The 1991 legislative assembly enacted legislation that amended the Nurse Practice Act to include regulatory oversight for those who provide assistance to the nurse. North Dakota Century Code chapter 43-12.1 allows the licensed nurse to delegate and supervise nursing interventions to individuals authorized by the board to perform those functions. Medication administration is a nursing intervention. The implementation of a medication assistant program became effective in September 1994 and had extensive revisions in 1999. The initial adoption of the rules provided a framework for nurses, medication assistants, employers, and the public to identify the competencies expected of the medication assistant that lead to registry status.