New Jersey · nursing homes
New Jersey nursing home staff requirements: what you have to hold on every person
A New Jersey nursing home has to hold twenty-nine dated things on file for the people it employs. Twenty-eight of them are federal and are the same in every state. One is New Jersey's own with a section number behind it, and three more are real but could not be pinned to one, so they are named further down rather than dressed up in the table.
What New Jersey adds
One thing, on top of everything every nursing home in the country already holds. It names the section of New Jersey law it comes from, so you can read it yourself rather than take our word for it.
| What we track | How often | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| A two-step skin test for TB before they startTwo steps means two visits, one to seven days apart, and each one has to be read within a set window. It is one row on a list and three appointments in real life. | Once, before their first shift | N.J.A.C. 8:39-19.5 |
One row, four appointments
The two-step test is the clearest example on this site of a requirement that looks like one line and behaves like four.
A person is hired. Test one goes in on Monday and is read on Wednesday or Thursday. Test two goes in somewhere between one and seven days after test one, and is read two to three days after that. Miss any of the reading windows and the result is not valid, and you start again.
None of that is difficult. All of it is easy to lose, because it is four dates attached to one person in their first fortnight, when everything else about that person is also new.
Buildings that move to a blood test where they can are trading a single draw for four visits, and that is a defensible choice, but it is a choice to make with your own infection preventionist rather than off a web page.
Why so much of New Jersey is in the second list
Three of the things a New Jersey building actually does are named below the table on this page rather than in it. That is deliberate.
The rule this site follows is that a row in the table carries a section number you can read: an F-tag, a piece of the federal code, or a state code. New Jersey's dementia hours, its yearly TB position and the certification-linked fingerprint check are all real, and we could not put a section number next to them without guessing. A page that guesses at a citation is worse than a page that admits the gap, because the guess is the thing somebody quotes back in a survey.
What every nursing home in the country holds
These twenty-eight are the same in New Jersey as they are everywhere else, and they are most of the job. Each one names a CMS tag, a piece of the federal code, or both. The guides go through the ones that get cited most.
Licences and certificates
| What we track | How often | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| A current RN license | When it runs out. Most last 2 years. | F839 · 42 CFR 483.70(e) |
| A current LPN license | When it runs out. Most last 2 years. | F839 · 42 CFR 483.70(e) |
| Nurse aide certification, still active on the state list | When it runs out. Most last a year. | F728 · 42 CFR 483.35(d) |
| A current license for therapy, social work and pharmacy staff | When it runs out. Most last 2 years. | F839 · 42 CFR 483.70(e) |
| A current administrator license | When it runs out. Most last a year. | F836 · 42 CFR 483.70(a) |
| Proof the food service director is qualified, where no dietitian works full time | When it runs out. Most last 3 years. | F801 · 42 CFR 483.60(a)(2) |
| Proof the activities lead is qualified | When it runs out. Most last 2 years. | F680 · 42 CFR 483.24(c)(2) |
Checks you run on a person
| What we track | How often | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| A look at the state nurse aide list before the first shift | Before their first shift, then every 2 years | F729 · 42 CFR 483.35(d)(4) |
| A check for any finding of abuse or neglect against them | Every year | F606 · 42 CFR 483.12(a)(3) |
Health and safety
| What we track | How often | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| A first TB check: history, symptoms and a test | Once, in their first two weeks | CDC 2019 via 42 CFR 483.80(a)(2) |
| The hepatitis B shot offered free, and their answer written down | Once, within ten working days of starting | 29 CFR 1910.1030(f) |
| A mask fit test for anyone who wears an N95 | When it runs out. Most last a year. | 29 CFR 1910.134(f) |
| A current CPR card at the healthcare level | When it runs out. Most last 2 years. | F678 · 42 CFR 483.24(a)(3) |
Teaching and in-service
| What we track | How often | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Orientation, before they work on their own | Once, in their first week | F940 · 42 CFR 483.95 |
| Teaching on abuse, neglect and dementia care | Every year | F943 · 42 CFR 483.95(c) |
| Teaching on residents' rights | Every year | F942 · 42 CFR 483.95(b) |
| Teaching on stopping infection spreading | Every year | F945 · 42 CFR 483.95(e) |
| Teaching on the quality program | Every year | F944 · 42 CFR 483.95(d) |
| Teaching on the compliance and ethics program, if your company runs five or more buildings | Every year | F946 · 42 CFR 483.95(f) |
| Teaching on mental health and behavior needs | Every year | F949 · 42 CFR 483.95(i) |
| Teaching on talking with residents, for hands-on staff | Every year | F941 · 42 CFR 483.95(a) |
| Teaching on what to do in an emergency | Every year | 42 CFR 483.73(d)(1) |
| Teaching on blood and needle safety | Every year | 29 CFR 1910.1030(g) |
| Teaching on the chemicals they handle | When they start, and again when a new chemical arrives | 29 CFR 1910.1200(h) |
| Twelve hours of teaching for each nurse aide | 12 hours every year, counted from their own start date | F947 · 42 CFR 483.95(g) |
| A written look at how each nurse aide is doing | Every year | F730 · 42 CFR 483.35(d)(7) |
| Teaching on keeping resident information private | When they start, and again whenever your privacy policy changes | 45 CFR 164.530(b)(1) |
Employment paperwork
| What we track | How often | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Form I-9, filled in and kept | Once, in their first three days of work | 8 CFR 274a.2(b)(1)(ii) |
Three more that nearly every building does anyway
These three are not on the tables above, and the reason is narrow: they rest on federal guidance or on a reporting program rather than on a rule with a section number. Almost every nursing home does all three, several state Medicaid programs have made the first one a condition of payment, and a page that called them law would be a page a surveyor would stop trusting.
- A check against the federal list of people barred from Medicare and Medicaid work. Every month. A name that was clear in January can be on it in February, so this is one to run on employees and contractors alike.
- Teaching on the signs of TB. Every year. What the signs are, who is at risk, and what to do about it. Teaching, not a test.
- A flu shot, or their reason for saying no. Every year. Their answer either way, written down. The count of who said yes is what goes in the yearly report.
What you still have to check yourself
Real in New Jersey, and not on the tables above, because we could not put a section number next to them without guessing. Guessing at a citation is worse than admitting the gap, because the guess is the thing somebody quotes back.
- Whether New Jersey asks for a yearly TB check after the two-step at hire. We could not confirm it either way, so take the national 2019 approach as your floor and check this with your own source.
- How many dementia hours New Jersey asks for at orientation and each year after. The requirement is real. The hour count is the part we could not confirm.
- The fingerprint criminal history check for nurse aides through the Department of Health, re-run when the certification renews.
- Twelve hours of teaching a year for each aide, tied to the yearly review. New Jersey ties the two together explicitly, and the federal rules do too.
Where the New Jersey rows came from
Read on .
Questions New Jersey buildings ask
What is a two-step TB test and why does New Jersey ask for it?
Two skin tests, placed one to seven days apart, each read two to three days after it is placed. The second one catches a reaction the first can miss in somebody who was exposed years ago. It is a more reliable baseline than a single skin test, and it is also four appointments rather than one, which is why it is worth putting on a calendar rather than in somebody's head.
Does New Jersey require an annual TB test after that?
We could not confirm it, and this page will not guess. The two-step baseline is clearly required. What happens in year two is the item to check against your own source. The national 2019 approach, which is questions rather than a repeat test, is the sensible floor while you find out.
How many dementia training hours does New Jersey require?
New Jersey requires dementia training at orientation and again each year. The hour count is the part we could not confirm, so it is named here rather than stated as a number. Ask your state association or your own counsel for the figure before you build a calendar around it.
Does the New Jersey background check get re-run?
For certified nurse aides, the fingerprint check is tied to the certification and is re-run when that renews, rather than on a separate yearly cycle. In practice that means the certification renewal date is the date to hold, and the check follows it.
Does New Jersey add nurse aide training hours beyond the federal twelve?
New Jersey ties twelve hours a year to the aide's performance review, which is the same shape as the federal rule rather than an addition to it. The one to watch is that the review and the hours are meant to be connected, so hours taught with no review behind them satisfy the count and not the intent.
Where to go next
- How Credolex works in a nursing home
- F882: infection preventionist, the guide behind the tag New Jersey leans on
- What New York asks for
- What Pennsylvania asks for
- What Florida asks for
- Every state we have read so far