The following words and terms, when used in these sections,
shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
otherwise.
(1) Call for assistance--An event where an Emergency
Medical Services (EMS) provider is activated via an internal communication
system or by a 9-1-1 operator.
(2) Case--A person in whom an injury is identified
by a physician or medical examiner based upon clinical evaluation,
interpretation of laboratory and/or radiological findings, and an
appropriate exposure history.
(3) Commissioner--Commissioner of the Department of
State Health Services.
(4) Data dictionaries--A collection of descriptions
of the data elements in the Texas EMS & Trauma Registries database.
(5) Department--The Department of State Health Services,
1100 West 49th Street, Austin, Texas 78756-3180.
(6) Electronic reporting--Submitting data by computer
in a format prescribed by the department.
(7) Emergency Medical Services (EMS) provider--A person
or entity that uses, operates or maintains EMS vehicles and EMS personnel
to provide EMS; as defined by Health and Safety Code, §773.003(11)
and Chapter 157, Subchapter A, §157.2 of this title (relating
to Definitions).
(8) Health authority--A physician appointed as such
under Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 121.
(9) Injury--Damage to the body resulting from intentional
or unintentional acute exposure to thermal, mechanical, electrical,
or chemical energy, or from the absence of essentials such as heat
or oxygen.
(10) Investigation--Fieldwork designed to obtain more
information about an incident.
(11) Local health department--A department created
under the Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 121.
(12) No reportable data (NRD)--If the entity does not
have any reportable event for a given month, the entity shall inform
the Texas EMS & Trauma Registries monthly by providing the NRD
submission.
(13) Regional Registry--A system that collects, maintains
and reports EMS provider runs and trauma data to the department for
a designated area of the state.
(14) Registries --The Texas EMS & Trauma Registries
is the statewide database housed within the department; responsible
for the collection, maintenance, and evaluation of medical and system
information related to required reportable events as defined in this
section.
(15) Reporting entity--An EMS provider, a justice of
the peace, a medical examiner, a physician, or an entity reporting
on behalf of the physician including a hospital or an acute or post-acute
rehabilitation facility.
(16) Reportable event--Any injury or incident required
to be reported under this chapter.
(A) EMS run--A resulting action from a call for assistance
where an EMS provider is dispatched to, responds to, provides care
to or transports a person.
(B) Traumatic brain injury (TBI)--An acquired injury
to the brain, including brain injuries caused by anoxia due to submersion
incidents.
(C) Spinal cord injury (SCI)--An acute, traumatic lesion
of the neural elements in the spinal canal, resulting in any degree
of sensory deficit, motor deficits, or bladder/bowel dysfunction.
(D) Submersion injury--The fatal or non-fatal process
of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion/immersion in
liquid.
(E) Significant trauma injuries--Other severely injured
trauma patients whose injury meets the department’s inclusion
criteria based on the data dictionaries and admitted to a hospital
inpatient setting for more than 48 hours, or died after receiving
any evaluation or treatment, or was dead on arrival, or transferred
into or out of a hospital.
(17) Suspected case--A case in which an injury is assumed,
but a diagnosis is not yet made, as in the example of justices of
the peace.
(18) Third-party services--Includes, but is not limited
to a regional registry located in a trauma service area (TSA), a billing
agency, or a data reporting agency.
(19) Trauma--An injury or wound to a living body caused
by the application of an external force, including but not limited
to violence, burns, poisonings, submersion incidents, traumatic brain
injuries, traumatic spinal cord injuries, and suffocations.
(20) Trauma service area (TSA)--A multi-county area
in which an emergency medical services and trauma care system has
been developed by a Regional Advisory Council and has been recognized
by the department.
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