Texas Administrative Code › Title 40 - SOCIAL SERVICES AND ASSISTANCE › Part 1 - DEPARTMENT OF AGING AND DISABILITY SERVICES › Chapter 5 - PROVIDER CLINICAL RESPONSIBILITIES-INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY SERVICES › Subchapter A - PRESCRIBING OF PSYCHOACTIVE MEDICATION › Section 5.3 - Definitions

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this
					 subchapter, have the following meanings:
(1) Accepted guidelines--The Texas
				  Implementation of Medication Algorithms (TIMA) or an alternative guideline
				  formally approved in writing by the TDMHMR medical director. In cases in which
				  none are formally approved, current professionally recognized clinical
				  guidelines or accepted standards of care are considered the accepted
				  guidelines.
(2) Child
				  psychiatrist--A physician who is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry
				  and Neurology and holds a subspecialty certificate in child and adolescent
				  psychiatry, or who is board eligible, i.e., has an active approved application
				  on file in the board office, or who is currently in training in an approved
				  residency and is supervised by a board eligible or board-certified child and
				  adolescent psychiatrist.
(3)
				  DSM--The current edition of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
				  Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Press.
(4) Legally authorized representative
				  (LAR)--A person authorized by law to act on behalf of an individual with regard
				  to a matter described in this subchapter, who may be a parent, guardian, or
				  managing conservator of a minor, or the guardian of an adult.
(5) Local authority (LA)--The entity
				  designated by TDMHMR to plan, facilitate, coordinate, and ensure the provision
				  of services to individuals with mental illness or mental retardation.
(6) Medication error--Any preventable event
				  that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while
				  the medication is in the control of the health care professional.
(7) Physician--A doctor of medicine or
				  osteopathy who holds a current license or institutional permit to practice
				  medicine in Texas.
(8) Plan of
				  care--The written document specifying how comprehensive care of the person with
				  mental illness or mental retardation is to be carried out (sometimes called the
				  "multidisciplinary treatment plan" or "interdisciplinary plan of
				  care").
(9)
				  Polypharmacy--Concurrent use of more than one psychoactive medication having
				  identical or very similar mechanisms of action.
(10) Prescribing professional--A physician or
				  other health care professional who, as authorized by statute, may prescribe
				  under the supervision of a physician.
(11) PRN--As needed (pro re nata).
(12) Psychiatric emergency--A situation in
				  which, in the opinion of the physician, it is immediately necessary to
				  administer medication to a patient to ameliorate the signs and symptoms of that
				  patient's mental illness and to prevent:
(A)
				  imminent probable death or substantial bodily harm to the patient because the
				  patient:
(i) overtly or continually is
				  threatening or attempting to commit suicide or serious bodily harm;
				  or
(ii) is behaving in a manner
				  that indicates that the patient is unable to satisfy the patient's need for
				  nourishment, essential medical care, or self-protection; or