Kan. Admin. Regs. § 60-7-106

Current through Register Vol. 43, No. 49, December 5, 2024

Section 60-7-106 - Unprofessional conduct

Any of the following shall constitute "unprofessional conduct":

(a) Performing acts beyond the authorized scope of mental health technician practice for which the individual is licensed;

(b) assuming duties and responsibilities within the practice of mental health technology without adequate preparation or without maintaining competency;

(c) failing to take appropriate action or to follow policies and procedures in the practice situation designed to safeguard the patient;

(d) inaccurately recording, falsifying, or altering any record of a patient, an agency or the board;

(e) physical abuse, which shall be defined as any act or failure to act performed intentionally or carelessly that causes or is likely to cause harm to a patient. This term may include any of the following:

(1) The unreasonable use of any physical restraints, isolation, or medication that harms or is likely to harm the patient;

(2) the unreasonable use of any physical or chemical restraint, medication, or isolation as a punishment, for convenience, in conflict with a physician's order or a policy and procedure of the facility or a statute or regulation, or as a substitute for treatment, unless the use of the restraint, medication, or isolation is in furtherance of the health and safety of the patient;

(3) any threat, menacing conduct, or other nontherapeutic or inappropriate action that results in or might reasonably be expected to result in the patient's unnecessary fear or emotional or mental distress; or

(4) any failure or omission to provide any goods or services that are reasonably necessary to ensure safety and well-being and to avoid physical or mental harm;

(f) the commission of any act of sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, or sexual exploitation related to the licensee's practice;

(g) verbal abuse, which shall be defined as any word or phrase spoken inappropriately to or in the presence of a patient that results in or might reasonably be expected to result in the patient's unnecessary fear, emotional distress, or mental distress;

(h) delegating any activity that requires the unique skill and substantial specialized knowledge derived from the biological, physical, and behavioral sciences and judgment of the mental health technician to an unlicensed individual in violation of the mental health technician's licensure act or to the detriment of patient safety;

(i) assigning the practice of mental health technology to a licensed individual in violation of the mental health technician's licensure act or to the detriment of patient safety;

(j) violating the confidentiality of information or knowledge concerning any patient;

(k) willfully or negligently failing to take appropriate action to safeguard a patient or the public from incompetent practice performed by a licensed mental health technician. "Appropriate action" may include reporting to the board of nursing;

(l) leaving an assignment that has been accepted, without notifying the appropriate authority and without allowing reasonable time for the licensee's replacement;

(m) engaging in conduct related to mental health technology practice that is likely to deceive, defraud, or harm the public;

(n) diverting drugs, supplies, or property of any patient or agency or violating any law or regulation relating to controlled substances;

(o) exploitation, which shall be defined as misappropriating a patient's property or taking unfair advantage of a patient's physical or financial resources for the licensee's or another individual's personal or financial advantage by the use of undue influence, coercion, harassment, duress, deception, false pretense, or false representation;

(p) the solicitation of professional patronage through the use of fraudulent or false advertisements, or profiting by the acts of those representing themselves to be agents of the licensee;

(q) failing to comply with any disciplinary order of the board;

(r) if the licensee is participating in an impaired provider program approved by the board, failing to complete the requirements of the program;

(s) failing to furnish the board of nursing, or its investigators or representatives, with any information legally requested by the board of nursing;

(t) engaging in mental health technology practice while using a false or assumed name or while impersonating another person licensed by the board;

(u) practicing without a license or while the individual's license has lapsed;

(v) allowing another person to use the licensee's license to practice mental health technology;

(w) knowingly aiding or abetting another in any act that is a violation of any health care licensing act;

(x) having a mental health technician license from a licensing authority of another state, agency of the United States government, territory of the United States, or country denied, revoked, limited, or suspended or being subject to any other disciplinary action. A certified copy of the record or order of denial, suspension, limitation, revocation, or any other disciplinary action issued by the licensing authority of another state, agency of the United States government, territory of the United States or country shall constitute prima facie evidence of such a fact;

(y) failing to report to the board of nursing any adverse action taken against the licensee by another state or licensing jurisdiction, a peer review body, a health care facility, a professional association or society, a governmental agency, a law enforcement agency, or a court for acts or conduct similar to acts or conduct that would constitute grounds for disciplinary action under this regulation; or

(z) cheating on or attempting to subvert the validity of the examination for a license.

Kan. Admin. Regs. § 60-7-106

Authorized by K.S.A. 65-4203 and 65-4209; implementing K.S.A. 65-4209; effective, T-88-48, Dec. 16, 1987; effective Sept. 27, 1993; amended Sept. 6, 1994; amended April 20, 2007.