N.J. Admin. Code § 8:43-1.3

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 9, May 6, 2024
Section 8:43-1.3 - Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Advanced practice nurse" means an individual who is so certified by the New Jersey State Board of Nursing in accordance with N.J.S.A. 45:11-23et seq.

"Assistive device" means a leg brace, splint, cane, crutch, special shoe, back brace, walker, wheelchair, or prosthesis.

"Available" means ready for immediate use (pertaining to equipment) or capable of being reached (pertaining to personnel), unless otherwise defined.

"Basic physical plant services" means heat, power, lighting, water, food and staff.

"Cleaning" means the removal by scrubbing and washing, as with hot water, soap or detergent, or vacuuming, of infectious agents and of organic matter from surfaces on which and in which infectious agents may find conditions for surviving or multiplying.

"Cohorting" means the practice of grouping patients who are or are not colonized or infected with the same organism to confine their care to one area and prevent contact with other patients.

"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Department.

"Communicable disease" means an illness due to a specific infectious agent or its toxic products which occurs through transmission of that agent or its products from a reservoir to a susceptible host.

"Conspicuously posted" means placed at a location within the facility accessible to and seen by residents and the public.

"Contamination" means the presence of an infectious or toxic agent in the air, on a body surface, or on or in clothes, bedding, instruments, dressings, or other inanimate articles or substances, including water, milk, and food.

"Controlled Dangerous Substances Acts" means the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (Title II, Public Law 91-513) and the New Jersey Controlled Dangerous Substances Act of 1970, N.J.S.A. 24:21-1et seq.

"Current" means up-to-date.

"Department" means the New Jersey Department of Health.

"Designated community agency" means any agency in which the resident is a participating program member or under treatment, or an agency designated by the Social Security Administration as the resident's representative payee.

"Director of health maintenance and monitoring services" means a registered professional nurse who is responsible for the direction, provision and quality of health maintenance and monitoring services for the residents of the facility.

"Dietitian" means an individual who is registered or eligible for registration by the Commission on Dietetic Registration , 120 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2190, Chicago, IL 60606, telephone: (800) 877-1600, website: www.cdrnet.org.

"Disinfection" means the killing of infectious agents outside the body, or organisms transmitting such agents, by chemical and physical means, directly applied.

1. "High-level disinfection" means that disinfection which kills vegetative bacteria, tubercle bacillus, some spores, fungi, lipid and non-lipid viruses.
2. "Intermediate-level disinfection" means that disinfection which kills vegetative bacteria, tubercle bacillus, fungi, lipid and non-lipid viruses and does not kill resistant bacterial spores.
3. "Low-level disinfection" means that disinfection which kills most vegetative bacteria, fungi, and lipid viruses and does not kill spores and non-lipid viruses. Low-level disinfection is sometimes less active against some of the gram-negative rods (Pseudomonas) and Mycobacterium (TB).

"Documented" means written, signed, and dated.

"Drug" means a substance as defined in the New Jersey State Board of Pharmacy Rules, N.J.A.C. 13:39-1.2. The term "medication" is used interchangeably with the term "drug" in this chapter.

"Employee" means a member of the administrator's family or any other person who is gainfully employed in the residential health care facility on a full or part-time basis and for whom a record of hours worked and wages paid (salaries, room and board, or any combination thereof) are maintained and who meets the health, age and other requirements of this chapter.

"Epidemic" means the occurrence in a facility of one or more cases of an illness in excess of normal expectancy for that illness, derived from a common or propagated source.

"Facility" means a residential health care facility licensed pursuant to this chapter.

"Full-time" means relating to a time period established by the facility as a full working week, as defined and specified in the facility's policies and procedures.

"Governing authority" means the organization, person, or persons designated to assume legal responsibility for the management, operation, and financial viability of the facility.

"Guardian" means a person appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction to handle the affairs and protect the rights of any resident of the facility.

"Health care facility" means a facility so defined in N.J.S.A. 26:2H-1et seq., and amendments thereto.

"Job description" means written specifications developed for each position in the facility, containing the qualifications, duties and responsibilities, and accountability required of employees in that position.

"Licensed practical nurse" means an individual who is so licensed by the New Jersey State Board of Nursing pursuant to N.J.S.A. 45:11-27.

"Licensed nursing personnel" (licensed nurse) means registered professional nurses or practical nurses licensed by the New Jersey State Board of Nursing.

"Medication," for the purposes of this chapter, is used interchangeably with the term "drug." Please see the definition of "drug" in this chapter.

"Medication regimen review" means an individual resident record review conducted by the consultant pharmacist, including, but not limited to, laboratory tests, dietary requirements, physician's and nurse's clinical notes, physician's orders and progress notes, in order to monitor for potentially significant adverse drug reactions, drug-to-drug and drug-food interactions, allergies, contraindications, rationality of therapy, drug use evaluation, and laboratory tests results.

"Monitor" means to observe, watch, or check.

"Pharmacist" means an individual who is so registered by the New Jersey State Board of Pharmacy, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 13:39-3.

"Physician" means an individual who is licensed or authorized by the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners to practice medicine in the State of New Jersey, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 45:9-1et seq.

"Physician assistant" means an individual who is so licensed by the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 45:9-27.10et seq.

"Religious and recreational activities" includes any religious, social, or recreational activity that is consistent with the resident's preferences and choosing, regardless of whether the activity is coordinated, offered, provided, or sponsored by facility staff or by an outside activities provider.

"Residential health care facility" means a facility located with, and operated by, a licensed health care facility that provides food, shelter, supervised health care and related services, in a homelike setting, to four or more persons 18 years of age or older who are unrelated to the owner or administrator.

"Resident" means a person residing in a residential health care facility who is 18 years of age or older , mobile pursuant to his or her power with or without assistive devices and able to effectuate his or her own evacuation from the facility.

"Resident supervision" means the provision of direct services required by this chapter to residents.

"Responsible person" means a person who has been designated by the resident and who has agreed to assist the resident, as needed, in arranging for health, social and financial services or making decisions regarding such services.

"Self administration" means a procedure in which any medication is taken orally, injected, inserted, or topically or otherwise administered by a resident to himself or herself. The complete procedure of self-administration includes removing an individual dose from a previously dispensed (in accordance with the New Jersey State Board of Pharmacy rules, N.J.A.C. 13:39), labeled container (including a unit dose container), verifying it with the directions on the label, and taking orally, injecting, inserting, or topically or otherwise administering the medication.

"Shift" means a time period defined as a full working day by the facility in its policy manual.

"Signature" means at least the first initial and full surname and title (for example, R.N., L.P.N., D.D.S., M.D., D.O.) of a person, legibly written with his or her own hand. A controlled electronic signature system may be used.

"Social isolation" means a state of isolation wherein a resident of a long-term care facility is unable to engage in social interactions and religious and recreational activities with other facility residents or with family members, friends, and external support systems.

"Staff education plan" means a written plan which describes a coordinated program for staff education for each service, including inservice programs and on-the-job training.

"Staff orientation plan" means a written plan for the orientation of each new employee to the duties and responsibilities of the service to which he or she has been assigned, as well as to the personnel policies of the facility.

"Supervision" means authoritative procedural guidance by a qualified individual for the accomplishment of a function or activity within his or her sphere of competence, with initial direction and periodic on-site inspection of the actual act of accomplishing the function or activity.

1. "Direct supervision" means supervision on the premises.

N.J. Admin. Code § 8:43-1.3

Amended by 51 N.J.R. 1272(a), effective 8/5/2019
Amended by 55 N.J.R. 2271(a), effective 11/6/2023