Texas Administrative Code › Title 22 - EXAMINING BOARDS › Part 26 - TEXAS BOARD OF LICENSURE FOR PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL PHYSICISTS › Chapter 601 - MEDICAL PHYSICISTS › Section 601.2 - Definitions

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter,
				  shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
				  otherwise.
(1) Act--The Texas Medical
				Physics Practice Act (Act), Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 602, concerning the
				licensure and regulation of professional medical physicists.
(2) APA--The Administrative Procedure Act,
				Texas Government Code, Chapter 2001.
(3) Applicant--A person who applies to the
				Texas Board of Licensure for Professional Medical Physicists (board) for a
				license.
(4) Board--The Texas Board
				of Licensure for Professional Medical Physicists.
(5) Commissioner--The Commissioner of the
				Department of State Health Services.
(6) Department--The Department of State
				Health Services.
(7) Diagnostic
				radiological physics--The branch of medical physics that deals with the
				diagnostic application of roentgen rays, gamma rays from sealed sources,
				ultrasonic radiation, or radiofrequency radiation and the use of equipment
				associated with the production and use of that radiation.
(8) License--A certificate issued by the
				board authorizing the license holder to engage in the practice of medical
				physics including the temporary license and provisional license unless the
				context clearly indicates otherwise.
(9) Licensed medical physicist--A person who
				holds a license issued under the Act.
(10) Medical health physics--The branch of
				medical physics that deals with the safe use of roentgen rays, gamma rays,
				electron or other charged particle beams, neutrons, 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.
(11) 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.
(12) Medical physics--The branch of physics
				that is associated with the practice of medicine; and includes, but is not
				limited to, the field of radiological physics.
(13) 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.
(14)
				Practice of medical radiological physics--The use of principles and accepted
				protocols of physics to assure the correct quality, quantity, and placement of
				radiation during the performance of a radiological procedure prescribed by a
				practitioner that will protect the patient and others from harmful excessive
				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.
(15) Practitioner--A doctor of medicine,
				osteopathy, podiatry, dentistry, or chiropractic who is licensed in this state
				and who prescribes radiologic procedures for other persons.
(16) 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.
(17) Quality assurance--An all encompassing
				term that includes data recording, patient management, outcome analysis and
				equipment performance monitoring.
(18) Quality control--A subset of quality
				assurance that concerns monitoring the performance of imaging, treatment and
				associated radiological equipment.
(19) Radiation--Ionizing and/or nonionizing
				radiation above background levels used to perform a diagnostic or therapeutic
				medical or dental radiological procedure.
(20) Radiological physics--The branch of
				medical physics that includes diagnostic radiological physics, therapeutic
				radiological physics, medical nuclear physics, and medical health
				physics.
(21) 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.