When to Apply

Before you apply for a Delaware Nursing Home Administrator (NHA) license, you may have to complete a Delaware board-approved Administrator-In-Training (AIT) program. IF either of the following conditions apply to you, you must apply for an Administrator in Training license:

• You DO NOT hold a current NHA license in another jurisdiction, or
• You hold a current NHA license in another jurisdiction, but the Delaware Board determined that you do not qualify for licensure by reciprocity.

For information about programs approved by the Delaware Board, click Courses of Study Approved for Licensure.

To apply for approval of an AIT program, you must meet one of the following requirements:

• You must have a post-secondary degree in any field, OR
• You must hold a current Delaware Registered Nurse (RN) license.

Information on How to Apply for a License in DELPROS

Applications are processed in DELPROS (Delaware Professional Regulation Online Services). The online license application process is simple and provides you with clear instructions throughout each stage of the application process. We strongly recommend that you understand what the requirements are for the license you are pursuing. Then, request and gather the documents you need before you begin the application process. Most of the information and forms are on this website. For further clarification of requirements, refer to your profession’s License Law and the Rules and Regulations.

In order to apply for a license or service request, you must have a DELPROS account. To create a new account or log into an existing DELPROS account, follow the instructions at the beginning of the application process. As part of the final steps of the application process, DELPROS instructs you to either “attach” or “upload” required documents directly to your application and/or to “acknowledge” that you will either send in or make arrangements for “third-party” documents/forms to be sent to the Board office. Examples of “third-party forms” are transcripts from schools, employment verifications from a supervisor, and license verifications from another state. Official license verifications and/or transcripts are acceptable when received electronically directly from the State Board or school/institution. Note that forms requiring a signature, seal, or notary must be MAILED to the Board office directly UNLESS the document specifically indicates to UPLOAD the document. All documents received by mail are scanned and attached to the appropriate license records.

In DELPROS, you have the ability to save your application and return to it to edit/update information or upload documents for up to six months. However, if you do not submit your application within six months, you will have to restart your online application process. The Board office begins processing applications shortly after submission in the portal. You may check the status of your application in the DELPROS system throughout the whole process and we will correspond with you by email. The requirements for this license type are provided in the following section(s).

Requirements

In addition to submitting the application and fee in DELPROS, you must submit:

• An official transcript showing your associates, baccalaureate or graduate degree, sent directly from the college/university to the Board office.

• State/Jurisdiction Licensure Verification sent directly to the Board office from each state or jurisdiction in which you currently hold or have ever held a license.

• State of Delaware and Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal background checks (CBC). Follow the instructions on the Criminal History Record Check Authorization form to arrange to be fingerprinted. Submit the forms and payment to the State Bureau of Identification (SBI). Do not send these forms to the Board office.

• • Allow at least four weeks for the SBI to send criminal history records to the Board office.
• • A new criminal background check is required even if the person recently had a criminal background check done for some other reason.

• A resume or separate page thoroughly describing your occupational background. The document must list all post-degree positions you have held, starting with your current position. All time must be accounted for. If you have been involved in an academic residency or internship or in a Board-approved AIT program, include the following information:
  • dates of employment
  • title of position
  • name and address of employer or organization
  • employer/organization telephone number and email

• A resume or separate page thoroughly describing all past administrative experience that you acquired in a residential facility providing protective, preventive and personal care services performed by qualified personnel. (Personal care refers to the general supervision of and direct assistance to individuals in their activities of daily living.) Your experience must include:
  • administration of services to more than one person,
  • administrative services which have (or had) as a major component the supervision of more than one profession or discipline,
  • administrative positions in which you have (or had) direct responsibility for and are (were) held accountable for your own acts.
  • Describe your duties and responsibilities for the time periods when you supervised more than one profession or discipline. Include the dates and number of hours as well as the kinds of employees. Also, list the dates and hours for which you have served as acting administrator in the absence of the duly appointed administrator.

You may request approval of your preceptor(s) and program at the same time as you submit your application or later. However, the Board must approve both preceptor(s) and your program outline before you begin the AIT program.

Requesting Approval of AIT Preceptor

The Board must approve your preceptor(s). You may have one preceptor for both the Assisted Living (AL) and Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) portions of your program or two preceptors, a separate one for AL and SNF.

Each preceptor must:

• hold a current Delaware NHA license, and
• have been licensed as an NHA in Delaware or other jurisdiction for the preceding two-year period.

For information about preceptor responsibilities, refer to Preceptor and AIT Responsibilities.

It is your responsibility to submit a letter to the Board requesting approval for each person seeking to become your preceptor. The letter must:

• be on letterhead of the facility/organization
• give the preceptor’s NHA license number
• request approval to serve as preceptor for the AIT applicant
• specify whether the preceptor will be serving as an Assisted Living ( AL) preceptor, Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) preceptor, or both
• state in which facility the training will occur
• outline the specific functions and responsibilities that you will perform.

Requesting Approval of AIT Outline

Either you or your preceptor must submit an outline listing the training the AIT program will cover. See Addendum A to the Rules and Regulations. Note that the Board will not accept a photocopy of Addendum A as a substitute for an outline. Follow these guidelines when submitting the outline:

• The outline must state whether it is for the AL or SNF portion of the program or for both portions.
• The outline should be broken down week by week (e.g., Week 1, Week 2, Week 3). Do not include dates on the outline submitted for Board approval because you cannot begin an AIT program until the Board has approved both preceptor(s) and outline.
• The length of your AIT program depends on your education. This table shows how the Board determines the timeframe of your AIT outline:

After Completing the AIT Program

When all of your preceptors confirm that you have successfully completed your Delaware AIT Program, the Board will approve you to sit for the NAB Examination. The Board office will notify you when you have been approved and explain how to register. When you register to take the exam, make sure that you request NAB to send your results to the Board office.

In order to be considered for a permanent NHA license, you must submit a Nursing Home Administrator Licensure application in DELPROS . You may submit the application before or after you pass the exam, but the Board will not consider your application until you have passed it.