North Dakota nursing home responsiveness requirements

Nursing home personnel and other medical professionals and caregivers who learn of abuse or neglect of a vulnerable adult in their professional capacity must report it to the Department of Health and Human Services (or its designee) or to an appropriate law enforcement agency, orally or in writing, as soon as possible — North Dakota sets no fixed hour clock.

Any medical or mental health professional or personnel, law enforcement officer, firefighter, member of the clergy, or caregiver having knowledge a vulnerable adult has been subjected to abuse or neglect ... shall report the information to the department, or the department's designee, or to an appropriate law enforcement agency ... An individual required to report under subsection 1 shall make an oral or written report ... as soon as possible.

The facility's governing body must adopt and implement written personnel policies that prohibit resident abuse, neglect, and misappropriation of resident property and that establish procedures for investigation, reporting, and follow-up action.

Prohibitions on resident abuse, neglect, and misappropriation of resident property, and procedures for investigation, reporting, and followup action.

Requires that every resident be under the supervision of a licensed health care practitioner who visits as medically indicated but at least annually, and separately (33-07-03.2-13) requires a medical director or organized medical staff — but this is physician-supervision only and does NOT impose a 24-hour emergency physician availability or on-call duty.

Each resident in the facility is under the supervision of a licensed health care practitioner. (a) Licensed health care practitioners shall visit residents as often as medically indicated, but no less frequently than annually.

A nursing facility must have sufficient qualified nursing personnel on duty at all times, including at least one RN on duty eight consecutive hours a day seven days a week and at least one licensed nurse on duty designated as charge nurse 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The facility shall have sufficient qualified nursing personnel on duty at all times to meet the nursing care needs of the residents including: a. At least one registered nurse on duty eight consecutive hours per day, seven days a week; and b. At least one licensed nurse on duty and designated to work charge twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.

Every resident of a skilled nursing, basic care, assisted living, or long-term-care swing-bed facility has a statutory right to send and receive unopened mail and to access and use telephones and electronic devices for private conversations, and (subsection (1)(b)) to have private meetings and communications with any person of the resident's choice.

The right to send and receive unopened personal mail and electronic mail and the right of access to and use of telephones and electronic devices for private conversations.

A nursing facility must maintain a written emergency procedure that identifies the persons to be notified, alarm and extinguisher locations, evacuation routes and procedures, and per-shift task assignments — the state's counterpart to the federal emergency communication plan, though far thinner than 42 C.F.R. 483.73.

The facility shall have a written procedure to be followed in case of emergencies. The emergency plan must specify persons to be notified, locations of alarm signals and fire extinguishers, evacuation routes, procedures for evacuating residents, and assignment of specific tasks, and responsibilities to the personnel of each shift.

A nurse calling station must be installed at every resident bed and at each toilet, bath, and shower (the latter must be an emergency call), with calls registering visibly and audibly at the nurses' station and lighting a corridor signal at the resident's door; the nurse calling system must also be on emergency electric service under subsection (6)(b).

A nurse calling station must be installed at each resident bed, toilet, bath, and shower. The nurse calling station at the toilet, bath, or shower must be an emergency call. a. All calls must register both visibly and audibly at the nurses' station and must actuate a visible signal in the corridor at the resident's door, in the clean workroom, and soiled workroom.

Each nursing facility must develop and implement a governing-body-approved written quality improvement program with objectives, scope, and objective measurable indicators of care tied to resident health and safety, and must document and report quality improvement activities (including infection control) to the governing body.

The facility shall develop and implement a quality improvement program, approved by the governing body, for assessing and improving the quality of services and care provided to residents. The written program must describe objectives, organization, scope, and mechanisms for overseeing and reporting the effectiveness of monitoring, evaluation, and improvement activities.