Texas Administrative Code › Title 25 - HEALTH SERVICES › Part 1 - DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES › Chapter 157 - EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE › Subchapter C - EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES TRAINING AND COURSE APPROVAL › Section 157.38 - Continuing Education

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Purpose. The
				  purpose of this section is to establish minimum standards and guidelines for
				  educational activities that may be used by EMS personnel to earn continuing
				  education (CE) contact hours toward recertification or relicensure in
				  accordance with §
										157.34
				  of this title, (relating to Recertification) and §
										157.40 of
				  this title, (relating to Paramedic Licensure). The EMS continuing education
				  consists of educational activities designed to promote and enrich knowledge,
				  improve skills, and develop attitudes for the enhancement of professional
				  practice, thus improving the quality of emergency medical services provided to
				  the public.
(b) Local Credentialing
				  and Authorization to Practice. Nothing in this section is intended to restrict
				  the authority of EMS providers or medical directors to establish higher
				  standards and requirements for continuing education activities that must be
				  completed to acquire or maintain authorization to practice within a local or
				  regional EMS system.
(c) Content
				  requirements. Candidates at each certification level shall, at a minimum,
				  accrue department-approved CE in the following content areas.
Attached
					 Graphic
(d)
				  Definitions. The following words and terms, when used in this section shall
				  have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) Accrediting agency--An organization
				  approved by the department as having met predetermined criteria to approve
				  programs and providers of EMS continuing education.
(2) Approved--Recognized as having met
				  established standards and pre-determined criteria of the accrediting agencies
				  which have been approved by the department. Applies to EMS continuing education
				  providers and programs.
(3)
				  Continuing Education Audit--Examination and verification of EMS continuing
				  education contact hours claimed to have been successfully and timely completed
				  by certified or licensed EMS personnel.
(4) Classroom instruction--Workshops,
				  seminars, conferences, or short-term courses that an individual personally
				  attends and which is directly related to one of the content areas noted in
				  subsection (c) of this section.
(5)
				  Clinical learning experiences--Faculty-planned and guided learning experiences
				  designed to assist students to meet course objectives in the noted content
				  areas of subsection (c) of this section and to apply EMS knowledge and skills
				  in the direct care of patients. These experiences can include settings in
				  laboratories, acute medical care facilities, extended medical care facilities,
				  and participation in other department approved health related activities.
				  Practice approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board may also be
				  considered a form of clinical experience under these rules.
(6) Contact hour--Fifty consecutive minutes
				  of participation in a learning activity.
(7) Continuing education--Educational
				  activities that are related to the content areas noted in subsection (c) of
				  this section and are designed to promote and enrich knowledge, improve skills,
				  and develop attitudes for the enhancement of professional practice, thus
				  improving the quality of emergency medical services provided to the
				  public.
(8) Continuing education
				  program--An organized educational activity designed and evaluated to meet a set
				  of behavioral objectives, which may be presented in one session, or a series of
				  sessions, designed to enhance or elevate EMS knowledge and practice of
				  certified or licensed EMS personnel.
(9) Credit course--A specific set of learning
				  experiences offered at a regionally accredited institution of higher education
				  for semester or quarter credit hours.
(10) Continuing Education Provider--An
				  individual, partnership, organization, agency, or institution that offers EMS
				  continuing education programs, courses, credit courses, classroom instruction,
				  or other EMS educational activities.
(11) Course--An organized and specific set of
				  learning experiences offered by an approved provider. Courses include credit
				  and continuing education courses, short-term courses, organized clinical
				  learning experiences and other coherent sequences of learning experiences,
				  approved by the department.
(12)
				  Self-directed study--An educational activity in which the learner takes the
				  initiative and the responsibility for assessing, planning, implementing, and
				  evaluating the activity. Self-directed study may include program development,
				  home study, electronically programmed instruction, and authorship.