Oklahoma Administrative Code › Title 310 - Oklahoma State Department of Health › Chapter 641 - Emergency Medical Services › Subchapter 1 - General EMS Programs › Part 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 310:641-1-7 - Definitions

Current through Vol. 41, No. 20, July 1, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this Chapter,
					 shall have the following meaning, unless the context clearly indicates
					 otherwise:
"ACLS"
means Advanced Cardiac Life Support.
"Act"
means the "Oklahoma Emergency Response
					 Systems Development Act".
"Advanced Emergency Medical Technician"
means
					 an AEMT as licensed pursuant to the Act or this chapter.
"Advanced Life Support (ALS) Emergency Medical
					 Services Training Program"
means an organization approved by the
					 Department to conduct the following ALS training: Emergency Medical Responder,
					 Emergency Medical Responder Refresher, Emergency Medical Technician, Emergency
					 Medical Technician Refresher, Advanced Emergency Medical Technician, Advanced
					 Emergency Medical Technician Refresher, Intermediate Refresher, Paramedic,
					 Paramedic Refresher, Continuing Education at the Intermediate and Paramedic
					 Levels, and such other courses of instruction that may be designated by the
					 Department.
"Agency"
means a Ground Ambulance Service,
					 Specialty Care Ambulance Service, Stretcher Van Service, Air Ambulance Service,
					 or Emergency Medical Response Agency.
"AHA"
means the American Heart Association.
"Ambulance"
means any ground, air or
					 water vehicle which is or should be approved by the Commissioner of Health,
					 designed and equipped to transport a patient or patients and to provide
					 appropriate on-scene and en route patient stabilization and care as required.
					 Vehicles used as ambulances shall meet such standards as may be required by the
					 State Board of health for approval, and shall display evidence of such approval
					 at all times.
[Title 63 O.S. Section
					 1-2503
					 ].
"Base Station"
means a location from which an
					 ambulance responds. The Base Station may include the principle business office,
					 living quarters for personnel training, and communication center.
"Basic Life Support (BLS) Emergency Medical Services
					 Training Program"
means an organization approved by the Department to
					 conduct the following BLS training: Emergency Medical Responder, Emergency
					 Medical Responder Refresher, Emergency Medical Technician Basic, Emergency
					 Medical Technician Basic Refresher, Continuing Education at the Emergency
					 Medical Technician Basic level, and such other courses of instruction that may
					 be designated by the Department.
"BLS"
means Basic Life Support, and includes
					 cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and utilization of Semi-Automated Advisory
					 Defibrillator (SAAD).
"Board"
means the State Board of Health.
"Call Log"
or
"request for service
					 log"
means a summary of all requests for service that an agency
					 receives, regardless of disposition.
"Call Received"
means that a call has been
					 received by an agency when enough information has been received to begin
					 responding to a request for service.
"Certificate"
means any certification or
					 certificate issued by the Department, pursuant to the Act or this Chapter.
"Clinical Coordinator"
means the individual
					 designated in writing by a training program as responsible for coordination and
					 supervision of clinical experiences.
"Clinical Experience"
means all supervised
					 learning experiences required and included as part of a training course in
					 which the student provides or observes direct patient care. This includes
					 vehicular experiences with a licensed ambulance service.
"Council"
means the Oklahoma Trauma and
					 Emergency Response Advisory Council.
"Critical Care Paramedic"
means an Oklahoma
					 licensed Paramedic that has received additional training to provide specialized
					 care to patients during interfacility transfers and has provided his or her
					 registration information to the Department.
"Department"
means the State Department of
					 Health.
"Distance Learning"
is instruction of didactic
					 portions of curriculum which requires participation of the instructor and
					 students but does not require the students to be physically present in the same
					 location as the instructor.
"Distributive Education"
means educational
					 activity, in which the learner, the instructor, and the educational materials
					 are not all present in the same place at the same time, e.g., continuing
					 education activities that are offered on the Internet, via CD ROM or video, or
					 through journal articles or audio tapes.
"Documents, Records, or Copies"
means an
					 electronic or paper copy maintained at the agency, on units, or provided to
					 receiving facilities.
"DOT"
means the United States Department of
					 Transportation.
"Division"
means the Emergency Medical
					 Services Division.
"Emergency"
means the patient being treated or
					 transported is in an immediate risk of dying or losing a limb.
"Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD)"
means a
					 person trained using a Department-approved curriculum for the management of
					 calls for emergency medical care.
"Emergency Medical Personnel"
means all
					 certified and licensed personnel which provide emergency medical care for an
					 ambulance service.
"Emergency Medical Responder"
means a person
					 who has successfully completed a state-approved course using the national
					 standard Emergency Medical Responder curriculum and passed a competency- based
					 examination from a state approved testing agency such as the National Registry
					 of EMTs.
"Emergency Medical Response Agency"
or
"EMRA"
means a person, company, or governmental entity that will
					 utilize certified or licensed emergency medical personnel to provide emergency
					 care but does not transport or transfer patients to a facility. The Department
					 will provide two types of certification.
(A) Pre-hospital EMRAs will operate as part of an Emergency
					 Medical System, responding to requests for service within a response area,
					 supporting and being supported by a licensed ambulance service.
(B) Event Stand-by EMRAs will operate or contract for
					 on-site medical care at locations that are open to the public or that will
					 respond to the public. These types of EMRAs are certified to standby at a
					 location or site and provide medical care to the public.
"EMS"
means Emergency Medical Services.
"Emergency Medical System"
means a network of
					 hospitals, different ambulance services, and other healthcare providers that
					 exist in the state.
"Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)"
means an
					 individual licensed by the Department as an Emergency Medical Technician,
					 formerly known as an EMT-B or Basic.
"Emergency transfer"
means the movement of an
					 acutely ill or injured patient from the scene to a health care facility
					 (pre-hospital), or the movement of an acutely ill or injured patient from one
					 health care facility to another health care facility (interfacility).
"Emergency Vehicle Operators Course"
means a
					 course that is meant to improve existing driving skills and familiarize an
					 emergency vehicle operator or driver with the unique characteristics of driving
					 emergency vehicles.
"En route Time"
means the elapsed time from
					 the time the emergency call is received by the EMS agency until the ambulance
					 and complete crew is en route to the scene of the emergency.
"FDA Class One Device"
means a device that is
					 not life-supporting or life-sustaining and does not present a reasonable source
					 of injury through normal usage. In the regulatory context, this applies to the
					 stretcher/gurney and its locking system within the unit or vehicle.
"First Aid"
means help given to the sick or
					 injured person until full medical treatment arrives or is available. It is the
					 initial response to an injury or illness, which can be given by a
					 non-professional as soon as a medical problem arises.
"Ground ambulance service"
means an ambulance
					 service licensed at the basic, intermediate, advanced or paramedic life support
					 level as provided in Subchapter 3. It does not mean a specialty care service
					 licensed pursuant to Subchapter 11 or a stretcher van service licensed pursuant
					 to Subchapter 17.
"Initial Certification or Initial Licensure"
means the first certification or license that an applicant receives after an
					 initial course, or the license or certification an applicant receives after the
					 previous license or certification expired.
"Intermediate"
means an Emergency Medical
					 Technician-Intermediate as licensed pursuant to the Act or this chapter.
"Instructor"
means a Department approved
					 instructor that is certified to provide instruction at one of three levels:
(A) Level 1 Instructors teach Emergency Medical Responder
					 courses, refresher and continuing education classes.
(B) Level 2 Instructors can teach all courses allowed for
					 Level 1 Instructors, plus initial certification and licensure courses.
(C) Level 3 instructors can teach all courses allowed for
					 Level 1 and Level 2 instructors, plus initial instructor courses, refresher
					 courses, and instructor continuing education.
"Lapse in Medical Direction"
means the Medical
					 Director for an agency has not been accessible to the agency for a period of
					 time as detailed with the agency's policies and agreement.
"Lead Instructor"
means the lead instructor
					 based on accreditation requirements.
"License"
means any license issued by the
					 Department, pursuant to the Act or this Chapter.
"Licensed Service Area"
means the contiguous
					 geographical area identified in an initial ambulance service application or in
					 an amendment to an existing license. The geographic area is identified by the
					 application and supported with documents provided by the local governmental
					 jurisdictions. For ground ambulance services, this is the geographic area the
					 ambulance service has a duty to act within.
"Medical Control Physician"
or
"Medical
					 Director"
means the licensed physician (M.D. or D.O.) that authorizes
					 certified or licensed emergency medical personnel to perform procedures and
					 interventions detailed in the agency's approved protocols.
"NHTSA"
means National Highway Traffic Safety
					 Administration.
"National Registry"
means the National
					 Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT), Columbus, Ohio.
"Non-emergency"
means the patient being
					 treated or transported is not in an immediate risk of dying or a limb.
"Non-emergency transfer"
means the movement of
					 any patient in an ambulance other than an emergency transfer.
"OKEMSIS"
means Oklahoma Emergency Medical
					 Services Information System.
"PALS"
means Pediatric Advanced Life Support.
"Patient"
means the person who requests
					 assistance or the person for whom assistance is being requested from an agency.
"Paramedic"
means an individual licensed by
					 the Department as a Paramedic, formerly known as an EMT-P.
"PIC"
means Pilot in Command.
"Post"
means a location where an ambulance may
					 be positioned for an unspecified period of time while awaiting dispatch.
"Preceptor"
means an individual with
					 education, experience, and expertise in healthcare and approved by a training
					 program to supervise and provide instruction to EMS students during clinical
					 experiences.
"Program Administrator"
means the individual
					 designated in writing by a training program as responsible for all aspects of
					 EMS training.
"Program Coordinator"
means the individual
					 designated in writing by a training program as responsible for all aspects of a
					 specified course(s) or EMS program. This individual shall have at least two (2)
					 years experience of full-time equivalent employment as a healthcare
					 practitioner.
"Protocols"
means the medical treatment and
					 transport guidelines or standing orders that an agency uses when responding to
					 requests for service. An agency's protocols will be approved by the Department.
"Response time"
means the time from which a
					 call is received by the EMS agency until the time the ambulance and complete
					 crew arrives at the scene, unless the call is scheduled in advance.
"State Interoperability Governing Body"
or
"SIGB"
means the formal group of public safety officials from
					 across the State working with the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security to
					 improve communication interoperability.
"Semi-Automated Advisory Defibrillator"
or
"SAAD"
means a defibrillator that is part of the Basic Life
					 Support curriculum and is also known as Automated External Defibrillator (AED)
					 and Semi-Automated External Defibrillator (SAED).
"Specialty Care Transports"
or
"SCT"
means interfacility transfers of critically ill or injured
					 patients by an agency with the provision of medically necessary supplies and
					 equipment, above the level of care of the Paramedic. SCT is necessary when a
					 patient's condition requires ongoing care that must be provided by one or more
					 healthcare providers in an appropriate specialty area. Examples include
					 emergency or critical care nursing, emergency medicine, respiratory care,
					 cardiovascular care, or a Paramedic with additional training in IV infusions
					 including vasopressors, vasoactive compounds, antiarrhythmics, fibrinolytics,
					 tocolytics, and/or any other parenteral pharmaceutical unique to the patient's
					 special health care needs or special monitors or procedures such as mechanical
					 ventilation, multiple monitors, cardiac balloon pump, external cardiac support
					 (ventricular assist devices, etc.), or any other specialized device or
					 procedure outside the Paramedic scope of practice certified by the referring
					 physician as unique to the patient's health care needs.
"Statewide Ambulance coverage area"
means a
					 map of all ambulance response areas, maintained by the Department.
"State Designated Resource Status Reporting and
					 Communication Tool"
means the electronic system utilized to communicate
					 in near real time status of the emergency medical system.
"Stretcher van"
means any ground vehicle
which is or should be approved by the State Commissioner of Health,
					 which is designed and equipped to transport individuals on a stretcher or
					 gurney type apparatus
[Title 63 O.S. Section
					 1-2503(25)
					 ].
"Stretcher van passenger"
means any
					 person who is or will be transported in a reclining position on a stretcher or
					 gurney, who is medically stable, nonemergent and does not require any medical
					 monitoring equipment or assistance during transport
[Title 63 O.S.
					 Section
					 1-2503(26)
					 ].
"Substation"
means a permanent structure where
					 an ambulance(s) is/are stationed and available for calls on a twenty-four (24)
					 hour basis.
"Tax Hold"
means an individual with an
					 Oklahoma certification or license who is not in compliance with Title 68 O.S.
					 Section
					 238.1
					 and the Oklahoma Administrative Code 710:95-9 as it pertains to professional
					 licensing compliance.
"Title 47"
means the Oklahoma Motor Vehicle
					 statutes.
"Training"
means that education which is
					 received through training programs as authorized by emergency medical services
					 rule for training programs (Subchapter 7 of this Chapter).
"Training Manager"
means an instructor or
					 manager that provides or oversees the training that occurs at an agency, such
					 as continuing education or refresher courses.
"Transfer"
means the movement of a patient in
					 an ambulance.
"Trauma transfer and referral center"
means an
					 organization certified by the Department and staffed and equipped for the
					 purpose of directing trauma patient transfers within a region that consists of
					 a county with a population of three hundred thousand (300,000) or more and its
					 contiguous communities, and facilitating the transfer of trauma patients into
					 and out of the region for definitive trauma care at medical facilities that
					 have the capacity and capability to appropriately care for the emergent medical
					 needs of the patient.