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TITLE 22EXAMINING BOARDS
PART 9TEXAS MEDICAL BOARD
CHAPTER 169DELEGATION
SUBCHAPTER ADEFINITIONS AND GENERAL PROVISIONS
RULE §169.1Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the contents clearly indicate otherwise:

  (1) Administer--To directly apply a prescription drug to the body of a patient by any means, including injection, inhalation, or ingestion, by a physician or an individual acting under the delegation and supervision of a physician.

  (2) Controlled substance--A substance, including a drug, an adulterant, and a dilutant, listed in and as described under the Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 481 (Texas Controlled Substances Act). The term includes the aggregate weight of any mixture, solution, or other substance containing a controlled substance.

  (3) Dangerous drug--A device or a drug that is unsafe for self-medication and that is not included in the Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 481 (Texas Controlled Substances Act). The term includes a device or a drug that bears or is required to bear the legend: "Caution: federal law prohibits dispensing without prescription."

  (4) Device--Means an instrument, apparatus, or contrivance, or a component, part, or accessory of an instrument, apparatus, or contrivance, that is designed or intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in humans or that is designed or intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of a human.

  (5) Drug therapy management--The performance of patient specific acts by pharmacists as authorized by a physician through a written protocol. Drug therapy management does not include the selection of drug products not prescribed by the physician unless the drug product is named in the physician-initiated protocol.

  (6) Human consumption--The injection, inhalation, ingestion, or application of a substance to or into a human body.

  (7) Medication order--An order from a practitioner or a practitioner's designated agent for administration of a drug or device, as defined by §551.003 of the Occupations Code, or an order from a practitioner to dispense a drug to a patient in a hospital for immediate administration while the patient is in the hospital or for emergency use on the patient's release from the hospital, as defined by Texas Health and Safety Code, §481.002.

  (8) Nonprescription drug--A nonnarcotic drug or device that may be sold without a prescription and that is labeled and packaged in compliance with state and federal law.

  (9) Prescribe or order a drug or device--Prescribing or ordering a drug or device, including the issuing of a prescription drug order or medication order.

  (10) Prescription medical device--A device that the federal Food and Drug Administration has designated as a prescription medical device and can be sold only to persons with prescriptive authority in the state in which they reside.

  (11) Protocols--Written authorization delegating authority to initiate medical aspects of patient care, including delegation of the act of prescribing or ordering a drug or device at a facility-based practice. Prescriptive authority agreements may reference or include the terms of a protocol(s).

  (12) Standing delegation order--Written instructions, orders, rules, or procedures designed for a patient population with specific diseases, disorders, health problems, or sets of symptoms. This type of order provides a general set of conditions and circumstances when action can be instituted prior to being examined or evaluated by a physician. Standing delegation orders may permit the administering or providing of the following types of dangerous drugs if specifically ordered by or using a pre-signed prescription from the delegating physician:

    (A) oral contraceptives;

    (B) diaphragms and contraceptive creams and jellies;

    (C) topical anti-infectives for vaginal use;

    (D) oral anti-parasitic drugs for treatment of pinworms;

    (E) topical anti-parasitic drugs;

    (F) antibiotic drugs for treatment of venereal disease; or

    (G) immunizations.

  (13) Standing medical orders--Generally applicable orders, which are used as a guide in preparation for and carrying out medical acts or surgical procedures or both after patients have been evaluated by the physician or physician assistant or advanced practice registered nurse under delegation.

  (14) Written protocol--A physician's order, standing medical order, standing delegation order, or other physician order or protocol.


Source Note: The provisions of this §169.1 adopted to be effective January 9, 2025, 50 TexReg 342

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