Section 74A: Registration of practical nurses; examinations and re-examinations; certificate; fees; cancellation of certificate; rules and regulations; continuing education relating to diagnosis, treatment and care of patients with cognitive impairments
Section 74A. The board shall hold examinations for the licensing of practical nurses at such times and places as it shall determine. Applications for licenses as practical nurses, signed and sworn to by the applicants, shall be made on blanks approved by the board. An applicant who furnishes satisfactory proof that he is of good moral character and that he is a graduate of a school for practical nurses approved by the board or is a graduate of an accredited school of professional nursing or was a student in good standing at an accredited school of professional nursing before completing the program of studies and, at the time of withdrawal, had completed a program of study, theory and clinical practice equivalent to that required for graduation from an approved school of practical nursing, shall, upon payment of a fee as determined by the secretary of administration pursuant to chapter seven shall be examined by the board and, if found qualified, shall be licensed, with a right to use the title licensed practical nurse and to practice as such, and shall receive a certificate thereof from the board. An applicant failing to pass an examination satisfactory to the board shall be entitled to additional examinations under the rules of the board but shall file a new application and pay a fee as determined under the aforementioned provision for each such examination. Every person licensed hereunder who continues to hold himself out as a licensed practical nurse shall, on or before his birthday in each odd numbered year, renew his license for the ensuing two-year period by payment of a fee as determined under the aforementioned provision to the board, and thereupon the board shall issue a certificate showing that the holder is entitled to practice as a licensed practical nurse for the period covered by said payment; provided, however, that if a birthday of any person who shall be licensed hereunder shall occur within three months after such original licensing, such person need not renew his license until the birthday in the odd-numbered year next following the birthday aforesaid; provided, further, that every person seeking renewal or licensing hereunder shall provide evidence of such continuing education as the board shall require by regulation, unless the board accepts the training and experience of any such person in lieu of said continuing education requirements. The board shall promulgate rules and regulations as to the type and amount of continuing education required for such nurse as a qualification for licensing or relicensing; criteria for approved programs, which shall not exclude programs offered by health care facilities licensed by the department of public health or educational institutions chartered by the commonwealth; procedure for the approval of programs; mechanism for the verification of compliance by each person seeking renewal or registration and provision for inactive status. The board shall have the authority from time to time to make, amend, and rescind such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of continuing education requirements. Said regulations shall provide that the minimum number of hours required shall not be less than fifteen hours in the registration periods. In default of such renewal, a person licensed hereunder shall forfeit the right to practice as a licensed practical nurse or to hold himself out as such until such fee shall have been paid. The board, after a hearing, by vote of a majority of its members, may annul the license and cancel the certificate of any practical nurse who has been found guilty of a felony.
The board shall require that any continuing education requirements necessary for the renewal of a practical nurse's certificate of licensure shall include the 1–time completion of a course of training and education on the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients with cognitive impairments, including, but not limited to, Alzheimer's disease and dementia; provided, however, that such course requirement shall only apply to practical nurses who serve adult populations.