Title 7 . Health and Social Services

Chapter 50 . (Reserved)

Section 820. Orientation and training

7 AAC 50.820. Orientation and training

(a) A residential psychiatric treatment center shall have a comprehensive written training plan, and shall submit it to the division, for the orientation, ongoing training, and development of staff members.

(b) The orientation portion of the training plan required by (a) of this section must provide that

(1) a new caregiver employee or volunteer who has less than six months of previous full-time experience working with emotionally disturbed persons in a residential setting is to receive at least 40 hours of orientation and training, as described in (4) of this subsection, and at least 40 hours of child care experience in the facility, working under supervision, before being assigned to independently carry out a particular caregiving job;

(2) a new caregiver employee or volunteer who has at least six months of previous full-time experience working with emotionally disturbed persons in a residential setting is to receive at least 20 hours of orientation and training, as described in (4) of this subsection, and at least 20 hours of child care experience in the facility, working under supervision, before being assigned to independently carry out a particular caregiving job;

(3) a new administrative, clerical, housekeeping, janitorial, or other support employee, if the employee's job involves even minimal contact with children in care, is to receive orientation and training as described in (4) of this subsection; for each job class, the residential psychiatric treatment center shall determine the hours of training and topics appropriate to the duties of persons in that job class, including interaction or contact by those persons with children in care;

(4) orientation and initial training of persons as required in (1), (2), and (3) of this subsection is to include, at a minimum, orientation to

(A) the purpose, goals, policies and procedures of the treatment center;

(B) working conditions and regulations;

(C) responsibilities and rights of employees or volunteers;

(D) the facility's policy and procedures for resident and family grievances;

(E) psychiatric treatment for children with severe mental, emotional or behavioral disorders;

(F) the security plan of the facility as described in 7 AAC 50.805; and

(G) the theory and practical application of techniques for de-escalating violent, destructive, angry, or runaway behavior by out-of-control residents while protecting the safety of the employee or volunteer and of other residents; and

(5) the facility may acknowledge and give credit for prior training that the employee or volunteer received, and that is the equivalent of parts of the orientation and training required by the facility's training plan, if the prior training occurred no more than two years before the individual became an employee or volunteer.

(c) The portion of the training plan required by (a) of this section for ongoing staff training and development must provide each caregiver employee or supervisor of caregivers, after that individual's first year of employment at the facility, is to receive at least 40 hours of training each subsequent year of employment; that training must address, at a minimum, the following areas:

(1) security procedures;

(2) supervision and treatment of child residents;

(3) regulations and procedures for use of restraints, isolation, or physical force as applied to a resident;

(4) resident rights and responsibilities;

(5) fire and emergency procedures;

(6) interpersonal relations and communication skills;

(7) the theory of treatment of mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders of the types with which residents of the facility are diagnosed;

(8) social and cultural lifestyles of children in the various communities or groups from which the residents of the facility came;

(9) child growth and development;

(10) the theory and treatment of fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol effect;

(11) the theory and practical application of techniques for de-escalating violent, destructive, angry, or runaway behavior by out-of-control residents while protecting the safety of the employee and the safety of other residents or employees;

(12) first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

(d) The training plan required by (a) of this section must provide that each part-time employee and regular volunteer working or volunteering less than 40 hours per week is to receive training appropriate to that individual's assignments, and that volunteers working the same schedule or number of hours as full-time paid employees are to receive the same training as full-time employees.

(e) The facility shall maintain written records documenting training sessions held or external training sessions attended, the participation of individual employees or volunteers, the hours involved, and other in-service training or external training activities in which each employee or volunteer was involved.

(f) A training program must be presented by persons who are qualified in the areas in which they are conducting training.

(g) A residential psychiatric treatment center shall designate one administrative, managerial, or supervisory staff person to be the training director responsible to plan and implement employee and volunteer training programs.

History: Eff. 6/21/2001, Register 158

Authority: AS 44.29.020

AS 47.14.100

AS 47.14.120

AS 47.35.010