24.147.504    MORTICIAN INTERNSHIP

(1) An applicant for a mortician internship shall make application as provided at ARM 24.147.402. To qualify for a regular mortician's license, the intern shall complete the requirements set forth in this rule. The board shall recognize internships served in other jurisdictions that are substantially equivalent to the internship requirements in this rule.

(2) An intern must be an employee at a licensed mortuary under the supervision of a licensed mortician and assist in the complete funeral (embalming, dressing, arrangement of funeral) of at least 25 bodies over a period of at least one year, but no more than three years after passing the jurisprudence examination.

(3) In order to receive credit, an intern must serve for a continuous six-month period under the supervision of the same licensed mortician. The board may waive this requirement in cases involving closure of firm, hardship due to illness or death of supervising mortician, illness of intern, or such other emergency.

(4) The intern and supervisor each shall report to the board any change of sponsoring mortician within ten days.

(5) If after three years from passing the jurisprudence exam, the internship has not been completed, the intern may apply for reexamination of state law and rules, and upon passing, begin the internship anew. No credit will be given for prior time served in an internship.

(6) An intern mortician may perform all the duties and functions of a licensed mortician, as allowed and directed by the supervising mortician. Despite the supervising mortician having responsibility for the professional actions of the intern, as prescribed in Title 37, chapter 1, MCA, the board may take action to revoke, suspend, or discipline an intern license.

(a) "Supervision" has the meaning set forth in 37-19-101, MCA, and means the extent of oversight that a mortician believes an intern requires, based upon the intern's training, experience, judgment, and professional development. At a minimum, the term requires the supervisor, or in limited absences of the supervisor, a delegated licensed mortician to be available for consultation on all client-related activity performed by the intern, and requires direction, observation, and evaluation on a regular basis.

(b) Failure to appropriately supervise an intern may result in disciplinary action against the supervising mortician.

History: 37-1-131, 37-19-202, MCA; IMP, 37-1-131, 37-19-101, 37-19-302, 37-19-304, MCA; Eff. 12/31/72; TRANS, from Dept. of Prof. & Occup. Lic., Ch. 274, L. 1981, Eff. 7/1/81; AMD, 1985 MAR p. 1610, Eff. 11/1/85; AMD, 1996 MAR p. 2425, Eff. 9/20/96; TRANS, from Commerce, 2002 MAR p. 790; AMD, 2013 MAR p. 1191, Eff. 7/12/13.