Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 46 - PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL STANDARDS › Part XLV - Medical Professions › Subpart 3 - Practice › Chapter 45 - Physician Assistants › Section XLV-4505 - Services Performed by Physician Assistants

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. The practice of a physician assistant
				  shall include the performance of medical services that are delegated by the
				  supervising physician and are within the scope of the physician assistant's
				  education, training, and licensure. A physician assistant is considered to be
				  and is deemed the agent of his supervising physician in the performance of all
				  practice-related activities, including but not limited to assisting in surgery
				  and ordering and interpretation of diagnostic and other medical services with
				  appropriate supervision provided. The level and method of supervision shall be
				  at the supervising physician and physician assistant level, shall be documented
				  in clinical practice guidelines, reviewed annually and shall reflect the acuity
				  of patient care and the nature of a procedure.
B. In accordance with a written clinical
				  practice guideline or protocol medical services rendered by a physician
				  assistant may include: screening patients to determine need for medical
				  attention; eliciting patient histories; reviewing patient records to determine
				  health status; performing physical examinations; recording pertinent patient
				  data; performing developmental screening examinations on children; making
				  preliminary decisions regarding data gathering and appropriate management and
				  treatment of patients being seen for initial evaluation of a problem or
				  follow-up evaluation of a previously diagnosed and stabilized condition; making
				  appropriate referrals; preparing patient summaries; requesting initial
				  laboratory studies; collecting specimens for blood, urine and stool analyses;
				  performing urine analyses, blood counts and other laboratory procedures;
				  identifying normal and abnormal findings on history, physical examinations and
				  laboratory studies; initiating appropriate evaluation and emergency management
				  for emergency situations such as cardiac arrest, respiratory distress, burns
				  and hemorrhage; performing clinical procedures such as venipuncture,
				  intradermal testing, electrocardiography, care and suturing of wounds and
				  lacerations, casting and splinting, control of external hemorrhage, application
				  of dressings and bandages, administration of medications, intravenous fluids,
				  and transfusion of blood or blood components, removal of superficial foreign
				  bodies, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, audiometry screening, visual screening,
				  aseptic and isolation techniques; providing counseling and instruction
				  regarding common patient problems; monitoring the effectiveness of therapeutic
				  intervention; assisting in surgery; signing for receipt of medical supplies or
				  devices that are delivered to the supervising physician or supervising
				  physician group; and, to the extent delegated by the supervising physician,
				  prescribing legend drugs and controlled substances listed in
				  R.S.
				  40:964 as schedule II, III, IV and V
				  substances and prescribing medical devices. A physician assistant may inject
				  local anesthetic agents subcutaneously, including digital blocks or apply
				  topical anesthetic agents when delegated to so by a supervising physician. This
				  list is illustrative only, and does not constitute the limits or parameters of
				  the physician assistant's practice.
C. A physician assistant may prescribe, order
				  and administer drugs to the extent delegated by the SP, except as provided
				  pursuant to
				  R.S.
				  37:930 relative to anesthetics. Drugs which
				  may be prescribed, ordered, and administered by a PA are those listed in
				  schedules II, III, IV and V of
				  R.S.
				  40:964 and legend drugs.
D. The activities listed in this Section may
				  be performed in any setting authorized by the supervising physician including
				  but not limited to clinics, hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, patient
				  homes, nursing homes, other institutional settings, and health manpower
				  shortage areas.
E. A physician
				  assistant shall not:
1. practice without
				  supervision, as defined by §1503, except in life-threatening
				  emergencies;
2. complete and issue
				  prescription blanks previously signed by a physician;
3. except to the extent delegated by a
				  supervising physician, issue prescriptions for any medication;
4. act as or engage in the functions of a
				  physician assistant other than on the direction and under the direction and
				  supervision of his supervising physician at the location or locations specified
				  in physician assistant's notice of practice location to the board, except in
				  the following situations:
a. if the physician
				  assistant is acting as assistant in life-threatening emergencies and in
				  situations such as man-made and natural disaster or a physician emergency
				  relief efforts;
b. if the physician
				  assistant is volunteering his services to a non-profit charitable organization,
				  receives no compensation for such services, and is performing such services
				  under the supervision and in the presence of a licensed physician;
5. act as or engage in the
				  functions of a physician assistant when the supervising physician and the
				  physician assistant do not have the capability to be in contact with each other
				  by telephone or other telecommunication device;
6. identify himself, hold himself out to the
				  public, or permit any other person to identify him, as "doctor," "medical
				  doctor," "doctor of medicine" or "physician" or render any service to a patient
				  unless the physician assistant has clearly identified himself as a physician
				  assistant by any method reasonably calculated to advise the patient that the
				  physician assistant is not a physician licensed to practice medicine;
				  or
7. administer local anesthetics
				  perineurally, pericurally, epidurally, intrathecally, or intravenously unless
				  such physician assistant is a certified registered nurse anesthetist and meets
				  the requirements in
				  R.S.
				  37:930.