In Tennessee nursing homes even aspirin has to be administered by a nurse.

It's a police Sonya Kemp says needs to change.

"There's been a nursing shortage that has escalated in the past few years," said Kemp.

Kemp runs Gallatin Healthcare, one of many nursing homes that would like to use Certified Medication Aids for jobs like handing out aspirin.

"A nurse would oversee the process, but it would allow her some free time to better provide care and assistance to these residents who may need more complex care," said Kemp.

A plan to allow just that passed last legislative session but supporters say the Tennessee Board of Nursing's implementation of the law is defeating its purpose.

The board voted to only let Registered Nurses supervise those Aids, not LPNs.

Board Chair Cheryl Stegbauer told lawmakers last week the reason is fears of safety.

"When something doesn't work we're talking about human error," said Stegbauer.

Still, the sponsors of the original bill say those fears are off base.

Representative Debra Maggart says the Board of Nursing was out of line because her bill was never intended to prohibit LPNs from supervising Medication Aids.

"It will be cost prohibitive for nursing homes to do that. I mean one of the factors was to provide more opportunities for long term care," said Maggart.

Tuesday morning a State House Sub-Committee will be discussing Maggart's bill to include both classes of nurses in the original plan.



Click "play" to watch the story.