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TITLE 25HEALTH SERVICES
PART 1DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES
CHAPTER 157EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE
SUBCHAPTER AEMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES - PART A
RULE §157.2Definitions

  (50) Lead trauma facility - A trauma facility which usually offers the highest level of trauma care in a given trauma service area, and which includes receipt of major and severe trauma patients transferred from lower level trauma facilities. It also includes on-going support of the regional advisory council and the provision of regional outreach, prevention, and trauma educational activities to all trauma care providers in the trauma service area regardless of health care system affiliation.

  (51) Legal entity name - The name of the lawful or legally standing association, corporation, partnership, proprietorship, trust, or individual. Has legal capacity to:

    (A) enter into agreements or contracts;

    (B) assume obligations;

    (C) incur and pay debts;

    (D) sue and be sued in its own right; and

    (E) to be accountable for illegal activities.

  (52) Licensee - A person who holds a current paramedic license from the Texas Department of State Health Services (department) or a person who uses, maintains or operates EMS vehicles and EMS personnel to provide EMS and who holds an EMS provider license from the department.

  (53) Major trauma facility - A hospital designated by the department as having met the criteria for a Level II trauma facility as described in §157.125 of this title. Major trauma facilities provide similar services to the Level I trauma facility although research and some medical specialty areas are not required for Level II facilities, provide ongoing educational opportunities in trauma related topics for health care professionals and the public, and implement targeted injury prevention programs.

  (54) Major trauma patient - A person with injuries, or potential injuries, severe enough to benefit from treatment at a trauma facility. These patients may or may not present with alterations in vital signs or level of consciousness or obvious significant injuries (see severe trauma patient), but have been involved in an incident which results in a high index of suspicion for significant injury and/or disability. Co-morbid factors such as age and/or the presence of significant medical problems should also be considered. These patients should initiate a system's or health care entity's trauma response, including prehospital triage to a designated trauma facility. For performance improvement purposes, these patients are also identified retrospectively by an injury severity score of 9 or above.

  (55) Medical control - The supervision of prehospital emergency medical service providers by a licensed physician. This encompasses on-line (direct voice contact) and off-line (written protocol and procedural review).

  (56) Medical Director - The licensed physician who provides medical supervision to the EMS personnel of a licensed EMS provider or a recognized First Responder Organization under the terms of the Medical Practices Act (Occupations Code, Chapters 151 - 165 and rules promulgated by the Texas Medical Board. Also may be referred to as off-line medical control.

  (57) Medical oversight - The assistance and management given to health care providers and/or entities involved in regional EMS/trauma systems planning by a physician or group of physicians designated to provide technical assistance.

  (58) Medical supervision - Direction given to emergency medical services personnel by a licensed physician under the terms of the Medical Practice Act, (Occupations Code, Chapters 151 - 165) and rules promulgated by the Texas Medical Board pursuant to the terms of the Medical Practice Act.

  (59) Mobile intensive care unit (MICU) - A vehicle that is designed for transporting the sick or injured and that meets the requirements of the advanced life support vehicle and which has sufficient equipment and supplies to provide cardiac monitoring, defibrillation, cardioversion, drug therapy, and two-way communication with at least one paramedic on the vehicle when providing EMS.

  (60) Off-line medical direction - The licensed physician who provides approved protocols and medical supervision to the EMS personnel of a licensed EMS provider under the terms of the Medical Practices Act (Occupations Code, Chapters 151 - 165) and a rules promulgated by the Texas Medical Board (22 Texas Administrative Code, §197.3).

  (61) Online course - A directed learning process, comprised of educational information (articles, videos, images, web links), communication (messaging, discussion forums) with a process and some way to measure students' knowledge.

  (62) Operational name - Name under which the business or operation is conducted and presented to the world.

  (63) Operational policies - Policies and procedures which are the basis for the provision of EMS and which include, but are not limited to such areas as vehicle maintenance, proper maintenance and storage of supplies, equipment, medications, and patient care devices; complaint investigation, multicasualty incidents, and hazardous materials; but do not include personnel or financial policies.

  (64) Out of service vehicle - The period when a licensed EMS Provider vehicle is unable to respond or be response ready for an emergency or non-emergency response.

  (65) Person - An individual, corporation, organization, government, governmental subdivision or agency, business, trust, partnership, association, or any other legal entity.

  (66) Prehospital triage - The process of identifying medical/injury acuity or the potential for severe injury based upon physiological criteria, injury patterns, and/or high-energy mechanisms and transporting patients to a facility appropriate for their medical/injury needs. Prehospital triage for injury victims is guided by the prehospital triage protocol adopted by the regional advisory council (RAC) and approved by the department.

  (67) Practical exam - Sometime referred to as psychomotor, is an exam that assesses the subject's ability to perceive instructions and perform motor responses.

  (68) Protocols - A detailed, written set of instructions by the EMS Provider medical director, which may include delegated standing medical orders, to guide patient care or the performance of medical procedures as approved.

  (69) Primary EMS provider response area - The geographic area in which an EMS agency routinely provides emergency EMS as agreed upon by a local or county governmental entity or by contract.

  (70) Public safety answering point (PSAP) - The call center responsible for answering calls to an emergency telephone number for ambulance services; sometimes called "public safety access point," or "dispatch center."

  (71) Quality management - Quality assurance, quality improvement, and/or performance improvement activities.

  (72) Regional Advisory Council (RAC) - An organization serving as the Department of State Health Services recognized health care coalition responsible for the development, implementation and maintenance of the regional trauma and emergency health care system within the geographic jurisdiction of the Trauma Service Area. A Regional Advisory Council must maintain §501(c)(3) status.

  (73) Regional EMS/trauma system - A network of healthcare providers within a given trauma service area (TSA) collectively focusing on traumatic injury as a public health problem, based on the given resources within each TSA.

  (74) Regional medical control - Physician supervision for prehospital emergency medical services (EMS) providers in a given trauma service area or other geographic area intended to provide standardized oversight, treatment, and transport guidelines, which should, at minimum, follow the regional advisory council's regional EMS/trauma system plan components related to these issues and 22 Texas Administrative Code, §197.3(relating to Off-line Medical Director).

  (75) Recertification - The procedure for renewal of emergency medical services certification.

  (76) Receiving facility - A facility to which an EMS vehicle may transport a patient who requires prompt continuous medical care.

  (77) Reciprocity - The recognition of certification or privileges granted to an individual from another state or recognized EMS system.

  (78) Relicensure - The procedure for renewal of a paramedic license as described in §157.40 of this title (relating to Paramedic Licensure); the procedure for renewal of an EMS provider license as described in §157.11 of this title.

  (79) Response pending status - The status of an EMS vehicle that just delivered a patient to a final receiving facility, and the dispatch center has another EMS response waiting that EMS vehicle.

  (80) Response ready - When an EMS vehicle is equipped and staffed in accordance with §157.11 of this title (relating to Requirements for a Provider License) and is immediately available to respond to any emergency call 24 hours per day, seven days per week (24/7).

Cont'd...

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