1. Each certified nursing assistant hired to work in a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility after January 1, 1980, shall have successfully completed a nursing assistant training program approved by the department or shall enroll in and begin the first available approved training program which is scheduled to commence within ninety days of the date of the certified nursing assistant’s employment and which shall be completed within four months of employment. Training programs shall be offered at any facility licensed by the department of health and senior services; any skilled nursing or intermediate care unit in a Missouri veterans home, as defined in section 42.002; or any hospital, as defined in section 197.020. Training programs shall be reasonably accessible to the enrollees in each class. The program may be established by a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility, unit, or hospital; by a professional organization; or by the department, and training shall be given by the personnel of the facility, unit, or hospital; by a professional organization; by the department; by any community college; or by the vocational education department of any high school.

2. As used in this section the term “certified nursing assistant” means an employee who has completed the training required under subsection 1 of this section, who has passed the certification exam, and who is assigned by a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility, unit, or hospital to provide or assist in the provision of direct resident health care services under the supervision of a nurse licensed under the nursing practice law, chapter 335.

3. This section shall not apply to any person otherwise regulated or licensed to perform health care services under the laws of this state. It shall not apply to volunteers or to members of religious or fraternal orders which operate and administer the facility, if such volunteers or members work without compensation.

4. The training program requirements shall be defined in regulation by the department and shall require at least seventy-five classroom hours of training and one hundred hours supervised and on-the-job training. On-the-job training sites shall include supervised practical training in a laboratory or other setting in which the trainee demonstrates knowledge while performing tasks on an individual under the direct supervision of a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse. The training shall be completed within four months of employment and may consist of normal employment as nurse assistants or hospital nursing support staff under the supervision of a licensed nurse.

5. Certified nursing assistants who have not successfully completed the nursing assistant training program prior to employment may begin duties as a certified nursing assistant and may provide direct resident care only if under the direct supervision of a licensed nurse prior to completion of the seventy-five classroom hours of the training program.

6. The competency evaluation shall be performed in a facility, as defined in 42 CFR Sec. 483.5, or laboratory setting comparable to the setting in which the individual shall function as a certified nursing assistant.

7. Persons completing the training requirements of unlicensed assistive personnel under 19 CSR 30-20.125 or its successor regulation, and who have completed the competency evaluation, shall be allowed to sit for the certified nursing assistant examination and be deemed to have fulfilled the classroom and clinical standards for designation as a certified nursing assistant.

8. The department of health and senior services may offer additional training programs and certifications to students who are already certified as nursing assistants according to regulations promulgated by the department and curriculum approved by the board.