How to Choose the Right Healthcare Training Program

This is the 6-hour course, and it belongs to assisted-living rules.

Florida Statutes §429.52(6) says staff who will assist with self-administration of medication under §429.256 must complete a minimum of 6 additional hours of training, provided by a registered nurse or a licensed pharmacist, before they provide that assistance. Two hours of continuing education are required every year after that. Rule 59A-36.011(6) sets the content. It includes the assisted-living medication rules, how to read a prescription label, providing the right medication to the right resident, common medications, why the medication must be taken as prescribed, side effects and adverse reactions, documentation, and storage and disposal. The nurse or pharmacist issues a training certificate after the trainee demonstrates the skill in person, both physically and verbally. The annual 2-hour update may be taken online.

Rule 59A-36.008 says an unlicensed person who provides this assistance must be at least 18 and must already have that training. Section 429.256 requires the resident’s written informed consent. The statute also says this assistance is not “administration” as nursing and pharmacy law use that word. Assistance can include bringing the labeled medication to the resident, reading the name and dose in the resident’s presence, placing an oral dose in the resident’s hand, applying a topical medication, and keeping a record. It does not include calculating doses beyond the narrow exceptions in the statute, preparing syringes for injection, giving medication by injection or through a tube, or any order that requires the unlicensed person to use judgment.

AZ SkillCare’s Med Tech course is the published 6-hour, in-person class for that role. The school states that the initial training is provided by a registered nurse or a licensed pharmacist, consistent with those Florida requirements. The topics on the course page are medication safety, labels and directions, forms and routes, storage and retrieval, resident rights, informed consent, documentation, medication observation records, reporting, adverse reactions, when to stop, and the device tasks Florida allows within those limits.

The annual 2-hour update is a separate online course for someone who has already completed the initial training. It is not folded into the 6 hours, and the two courses are not an 8-hour class.

Students who complete the required AZ SkillCare components receive an AZ SkillCare certificate of completion. That certificate documents the training. It is not a Florida nursing license, a CNA certificate, or a license to administer medication. The course is not automatically required for every CNA or home-health aide, and it does not authorize medication assistance in every healthcare setting. The facility, the resident’s consent, and the employer’s policy still apply. Completing the class does not guarantee a job.