Washington DSP Training Requirements: The 75-Hour Rule Under WAC 388-829

If your agency provides supported living, group home or other residential services through Washington's Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA), your staff training calendar is set by one chapter of state rules: WAC 388-829, "Community residential service business training requirements." It sits on top of a state law, RCW 74.39A.074, that sets 75 hours of entry-level training for long-term care workers.

The short version: five hours before a new direct support professional (DSP) works with anyone, first aid and CPR within 60 days, 70 more hours within 120 days, and 12 hours of continuing education every year after that. Here is what each piece includes, who gets credit for prior training, and what your files should show.

Who WAC 388-829 covers

The chapter applies to DSPs and instruction and support services (ISS) staff in DDA community residential settings. WAC 388-829-0005 lists the service providers it covers:

• Supported living providers
• DDA group homes and group training homes
• Licensed staffed residential homes
• Companion home and alternative living providers
• Intensive habilitation services for children
• Overnight planned respite and stabilization, assessment and intervention facility providers
• State-operated living alternatives for adults and for children

Most of these providers' staff are exempt from home care aide certification through the Department of Health. The exception is a DDA group home that is also licensed as an adult family home or assisted living facility. Those staff must meet WAC 388-829 and the home care aide certification rules in chapter 388-112A WAC.

The training timeline at a glance

WAC 388-829-0015 sets the schedule for anyone hired on or after January 1, 2016.

The five hours plus the 70 hours of basic training make up the 75-hour certificate.

Before the first shift: orientation and safety

New DSPs complete five hours of orientation and safety training before providing any client care or support. Under the state law, that means two hours of orientation on the caregiver role and terms of employment, and three hours of safety training covering basic safety precautions, emergency procedures and infection control.

Your agency can't write its own version. WAC 388-829-0045 says training entities must not develop their own curriculum for this course; DSHS develops it.

Within 60 days: first aid and CPR

First aid and CPR must both be completed no more than 60 days after the date of hire, then kept current. Since February 1, 2024, CPR training has to follow Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines for hands-on skills development. Staff hired before that date who held a CPR card without hands-on practice had until December 1, 2024, to retrain, no matter when their card expired.

Within 120 days: 70 hours of basic training

Basic training has two halves, and both must be finished within 120 days of hire (WAC 388-829-0050).

The 40-hour DDA residential services curriculum. This is DDA's own course, and it includes DDA's specialty training requirements. Instructors must complete DDA's train-the-trainer course and receive an instructor code from DDA (WAC 388-829-0065).

Thirty hours of population-specific training. These hours cover the needs of the people your agency supports, and they can be built from one or more of the following:

• Mental health or dementia specialty training under chapter 388-112A WAC
• First aid training and certification
• CPR training and certification
• On-the-job training, including client-specific training, when the instructor is a trained peer coach
• Other curriculum approved by DDA

Peer coaches who deliver on-the-job hours must meet the basic training instructor qualifications and complete at least 12 hours of department-approved peer coaching (WAC 388-829-0060).

Every year: bloodborne pathogens and 12 hours of continuing education

Bloodborne pathogens. WAC 388-829-0015 requires bloodborne pathogen training under the state's workplace safety rule, renewed every year. That rule, WAC 296-823-12005, says the training must happen before an employee is assigned tasks with possible exposure and at least once a year after that, at no cost to the employee and during paid work hours.

Continuing education. A DSP must complete 12 hours of continuing education (CE) each calendar year, except in the year they finish basic training (WAC 388-829-0085). DSPs who are also registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, nurse technicians, advanced registered nurse practitioners or certified home care aides complete their 12 hours by their birth date each year instead.

A few CE rules trip agencies up:

• No repeats. Staff can't retake the same CE course unless its content changed significantly or you have documented evidence that retraining was needed (WAC 388-829-0100).
• Approved curriculum only. Every CE certificate must show a curriculum approval code (WAC 388-829-0105), and instructors can use CE curriculum carrying a DDA or Aging and Long-Term Support Administration (ALTSA) approval code only with the curriculum owner's permission (WAC 388-829-0130).
• Nurse delegation credit. Nurse delegation core training counts as nine hours of CE and specialized diabetes training counts as three. Neither counts toward basic training, and if either is done in the same year as basic training, the hours can carry over to the next year's CE (WAC 388-829-0076).

Nurse delegation core training

Nurse delegation core training is required before a nursing assistant or certified home care aide can be delegated a nursing task by a registered nurse. Only the DSHS curriculum, "Nurse Delegation for Nursing Assistants & Home Care Aides," meets the requirement, staff must pass the DSHS competency test, and there is no challenge test (WAC 388-112A-0500 through 0580). Insulin injections require a separate DSHS specialized diabetes training on top of the core course.

New hires who already have training

Some staff arrive with credit (WAC 388-829-0035 and 0040).

Fully exempt from the 75-hour requirement: registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, nurse technicians, advanced registered nurse practitioners, nursing assistants-certified, people with special education training and an endorsement from the superintendent of public instruction, and DDA residential staff continuously employed since December 31, 2015, who met the training rules in place at the time and can show 12 hours of CE in the previous year.

Staff hired with a 75-hour certificate or letter of exemption still take the five-hour orientation and safety training and the 30 hours of population-specific training.

Certified home care aides coming from outside DDA take those same 35 hours plus either DDA-developed specialty training or the 40-hour DDA residential services curriculum, and the hiring agency must verify it.

All exempt staff still keep CPR and first aid current and complete 12 hours of CE each year.

A 75-hour certificate stays valid when a DSP changes employers, as long as they keep up with CE. For someone who later wants to become a certified home care aide through the Department of Health, the DDA certificate is no longer valid after two years (WAC 388-829-0030).

What an audit-ready training file looks like

The rules are specific about proof, so build each DSP's file around them:

• The 75-hour certificate, signed by a DSHS-approved trainer (WAC 388-829-0025), or a letter of exemption or license showing why the DSP is exempt
• First aid and CPR cards with completion dates inside the 60-day window and current expiration dates, and proof the CPR course included hands-on skills practice
• Bloodborne pathogen training records for every year
• CE certificates totaling at least 12 hours for each calendar year (or birth-date year)
• Nurse delegation core and diabetes certificates for anyone performing delegated tasks

WAC 388-829-0105 lists what every CE certificate must show: the student's name, the training title, the number of hours, the curriculum approval code, the instructor's printed name and signature, the training entity's name, the entity program code and the training dates. Check every certificate for its approval code before you file it.

How TES can help

Training & eTracking Solutions' Washington compliance pathway tracks the core WAC 388-829 requirements in one place: orientation and safety, the 40-hour DDA curriculum, the 30 population-specific hours, annual CE and nurse delegation core, each with a first-due date and renewal. State-delivered pieces, like the orientation and safety course and the DDA curriculum, are tracked as documentation you submit, so your team can see at a glance who is inside the 120-day window and who still needs CE hours this year.

Before counting any course toward the 30 population-specific hours or annual CE, confirm it has DDA or DSHS approval and a curriculum approval code, since WAC 388-829 counts only approved curriculum toward those hours. You can browse every state's pathway in the TES compliance pathway catalog.

This post summarizes Washington's rules as published on October 9, 2026. It is not legal advice; check the current WAC and your DDA contract for requirements specific to your agency.