The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall
have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
otherwise.
(1) Act--Title 3, Subtitle K, Texas Occupations Code
Annotated Chapter 602.
(2) Active duty--A person who is currently serving
as full-time military service member in the armed forces of the United
States or active duty military service as a member of the Texas military
forces, as defined by §437.001, Government Code, or similar military
service of another state.
(3) Address of record--The mailing address of each
licensee or applicant as provided to the agency pursuant to the Act.
(4) Advisory committee--The Medical Physicist Licensure
Advisory Committee, an informal advisory committee to the board whose
purpose is to advise the board regarding rules and the licensure,
enforcement, and discipline of medical physicists.
(5) APA--Administrative Procedure Act, Texas Government
Code, Chapter 1601 as amended.
(6) Applicant--A person seeking a medical physicist
license from the board.
(7) Armed forces of the United States--Army, Navy,
Air Force, Coast Guard, or Marine Corps of the United States or a
reserve unit of one of those branches of the armed forces.
(8) Board--The Texas Medical Board.
(9) Diagnostic radiological physics--The branch of
medical physics that deals with the diagnostic application of x-rays,
gamma rays from sealed sources, ultrasound radiation, or radiofrequency
radiation and the use of equipment associated with the production
and use of that radiation.
(10) License--A certificate issued by the Board that
authorizes the holder to engage in the practice of medical physics.
(11) Licensed medical physicist--A person who holds
a license issued under the Act.
(12) Medical health physics--The branch of medical
physics that deals with the safe use of x-rays, gamma rays, particle
beams, radionuclides, and radiation from sealed radionuclide sources
for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in humans and the use
of equipment required to perform appropriate radiation tests and measurements.
(13) Medical nuclear physics--The branch of medical
physics that deals with the therapeutic and diagnostic application
of radionuclides, except those used in sealed sources for therapeutic
purposes, but including therapy with radiolabeled microspheres and
with the use of equipment associated with the production and use of
radionuclides.
(14) Military service member--A person who is on active
duty.
(15) Military spouse--A person who is married to a
military service member.
(16) Military veteran--A person who served on active
duty and who was discharged or released from active duty.
(17) Physician--A person licensed to practice medicine
by the Texas Medical Board under Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 152,
or if out-of-state a person who holds a valid license to practice
medicine in that state or territory.
(18) Practice of medical radiological physics--The
use of principles and accepted protocols of physics to assure the
correct quality, quantity, and utilization of radiation during the
performance of a radiological procedure prescribed by a practitioner
that will protect the patient and others from harmful radiation. The
term includes radiation beam calibration and characterization, quality
assurance, instrument specification, acceptance testing, shielding
design, protection analysis on radiation-emitting equipment and radiopharmaceuticals,
and consultation with a physician to assure accurate radiation dosage
to a specific patient.
(19) Practitioner--A doctor of medicine, osteopathy,
podiatry, dentistry, or chiropractic who is licensed in this state
and who prescribes radiologic procedures for other persons.
(20) Provisional license--An authorization to practice
medical physics for a period not to exceed 180 days for individuals
currently licensed or certified in another jurisdiction.
(21) Quality assurance--An all encompassing term that
includes data recording, patient management, outcome analysis and
equipment performance monitoring.
(22) Quality control--A subset of quality assurance
that concerns monitoring the performance of imaging, treatment and
associated radiological equipment.
(23) Radiation--Ionizing and/or nonionizing radiation
above background levels used to perform a diagnostic or therapeutic
medical or dental radiological procedure.
(24) Radiological physics--The branch of medical physics
that includes diagnostic radiological physics, therapeutic radiological
physics, medical nuclear physics, and medical health physics.
(25) Radiological procedure--A test, measurement, calculation,
or radiation exposure used in the diagnosis or treatment of disease
or other medical or dental conditions in humans that includes therapeutic
radiation, diagnostic radiation, nuclear magnetic resonance, or nuclear
medicine procedures.
(A) The activities and services which fall within the
definitions in the Act of the practice of medical radiological physics,
diagnostic radiological physics, therapeutic radiological physics,
medical nuclear physics, or medical health physics are not radiological
procedures.
(B) The activities and services which fall within the
Texas Regulations for Control of Radiation, as defined in 25 TAC §289.201(b)
(relating to General Provisions for Radioactive Material) and §289.231(c)
(relating to General Provisions and Standards for Protection Against
Machine-Produced Radiation), concerning radiographic entrance exposure
rates; entrance exposure rates for fluoroscopy; dose measurements
of the radiation output of computed tomography (CT) x-ray systems;
equipment performance evaluations; surveys, calibrations, and spot
checks for therapeutic radiation systems operating above 150 kVp up
to 1MeV, and surveys, calibrations, and spot checks for therapeutic
radiation systems operating at energies of 1MeV and above, are not
radiological procedures.
(26) Submit--The term used to indicate that a completed
item has been actually received and date-stamped by the board along
with all required documentation and fees, if any.
(27) Supervision--To oversee the work of a medical
physicist holding a training license in the performance of those duties
defined as the practice of medical physics. For the purpose of fulfilling
the work experience and examination requirement, the supervisor shall
be responsible for the training licensee's work during this period.
The supervisor assumes the responsibility, and must have the authority,
to observe and correct the actions of the individual being supervised.
There are three levels of supervision as described in subparagraphs
(A) - (C) of this paragraph.
(A) General Supervision--The training licensee works
under the overall control and direction of the supervisor, but the
supervisor's presence is not required during the performance of the
work.
(B) Direct Supervision--The supervisor is present in
the building or institution and immediately available to furnish assistance
and direction throughout the work. The supervisor need not be in the
room where the work is being performed.
(C) Personal Supervision--The supervisor is physically
present in the room where the training licensee is working.
(28) Training License--A certificate authorizing an
individual to practice medical physics under the supervision of a
licensed medical physicist.
(29) Therapeutic radiological physics--The branch of
medical physics that deals with the therapeutic application of x-rays,
gamma rays, particle beams, or radiations from radionuclide sources
and the use of equipment associated with the production and use of
that radiation.
(30) Upper division semester hour credits--Third-level
or above (junior, senior or graduate) course work completed from a
regionally accredited college or university.
|