(1) All facilities or providers subject to
this rule shall develop and implement policies and procedures consistent with
the provisions of this rule chapter, including adoption of an approved
emergency procedure curriculum, appropriate staff training, record maintenance,
reporting and recording the use of any reactive strategy, training in the
provisions of this rule chapter, data collection, and maintenance of reactive
strategy consent information in client records, and any other requirements
established in this rule chapter.
(2) Facility or provider policies and
procedures may include only the reactive strategies provided in the
Agency-approved curriculum. No change to the approved curriculum or variation
of a specific reactive strategy may be employed without an Agency-approved
variance or waiver obtained in advance through Section
120.542, F.S. A proposed
variance to a reactive strategy must demonstrate that it is designed for a
specific client and the variance request must include documented evidence of
need and benefit. Variance requests will be evaluated by the Local Review
Committee and the Agency's Senior Behavior Analyst.
(3) Providers and facilities that employ
reactive strategies are required to implement procedures to ensure the safety
of staff and clients during the use of reactive strategies and to ensure that
Agency clients are not placed at risk because of existing medical
conditions.
(4) All staff
implementing reactive strategies must be certified in advance for all reactive
strategy techniques used or approved for use by the facility or
provider.
(5) A variation of a
specific reactive strategy may be employed only if it is designed for a
specific client with documented evidence of need and benefit, and only if
evaluated and approved in advance of implementation by the Local Review
Committee and the Agency's Senior Behavior Analyst.
(6) The provider or facility must conduct an
internal review of its emergency procedures at least annually with a written
evaluation that addresses the following issues:
(a) Proposed methods of reducing the use of
reactive strategies;
(b) Policy
evaluations and proposals to ensure that all applications of reactive
strategies are being conducted in accordance with the Agency-approved emergency
procedure curriculum and administered in a safe manner; and,
(c) Compliance with this rule chapter,
including appropriate records and reports of reactive strategies.
The facility or provider must maintain this written
evaluation for a minimum of five years and make it available to the Agency upon
request.