Ohio just streamlined the procedures for administering drugs to patients and will allow nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants to delegate medication administration in outpatient settings to unlicensed allied health professionals such as medical assistants.
Senate Bill 110 was just passed by the Ohio Legislature and signed by Governor John Kasich. It will become effective 90 days after signing.
APRNs such as certified nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives, or clinical nurse specialists must first file a written application with the board of nursing to get a certificate to prescribe. Once these nurses have a certificate, they can delegate the authority to administer a drug to a specified patient as long as the drug is not a controlled substance or administered intravenously.
Before delegating the authority to administer a drug, the certificate holder must assess the patient and determine that the drug is appropriate for them. They must also determine that the medical assistant meets the criteria of the legislation.
The drug must be listed in the formulary, and it must be administered somewhere other than these places:
- A hospital inpatient care unit
- A freestanding emergency department
- A hospital emergency department
- An ambulatory surgical facility
The medical assistant must have completed education on administering drugs and demonstrate that they have the knowledge, ability, and skills to safely administer the drug. Also, the medical assistant’s employer must give the APRN access to the documentation that the person has met these conditions. In addition, the APRN must be physically present at the location where the medical assistant will administer the drug.