Nursing Services- Staff Ratio Requirements for the State of Florida

(3)(a) The agency shall adopt rules providing minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes. These requirements shall include, for each nursing home facility, a minimum certified nursing assistant staffing of 2.3 hours of direct care per resident per day beginning January 1, 2002, increasing to 2.6 hours of direct care per resident per day beginning January 1, 2003, and increasing to 2.9 hours of direct care per resident per day beginning July 1, 2006. Beginning January 1, 2002, no facility shall staff below one certified nursing assistant per 20 residents, and a minimum licensed nursing staffing of 1.0 hour of direct resident care per resident per day but never below one licensed nurse per 40 residents. Nursing assistants employed under s. 400.211(2) may be included in computing the staffing ratio for certified nursing assistants only if they provide nursing assistance services to residents on a full-time basis. Each nursing home must document compliance with staffing standards as required under this paragraph and post daily the names of staff on duty for the benefit of facility residents and the public. The agency shall recognize the use of licensed nurses for compliance with minimum staffing requirements for certified nursing assistants, provided that the facility otherwise meets the minimum staffing requirements for licensed nurses and that the licensed nurses are performing the duties of a certified nursing assistant. Unless otherwise approved by the agency, licensed nurses counted toward the minimum staffing requirements for certified nursing assistants must exclusively perform the duties of a certified nursing assistant for the entire shift and not also be counted toward the minimum staffing requirements for licensed nurses. If the agency approved a facility's request to use a licensed nurse to perform both licensed nursing and certified nursing assistant duties, the facility must allocate the amount of staff time specifically spent on certified nursing assistant duties for the purpose of documenting compliance with minimum staffing requirements for certified  and licensed nursing staff. In no event may the hours of a licensed nurse with dual job responsibilities be counted twice.