La. Admin. Code tit. 46 § XXXVIII-103

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section XXXVIII-103 - Duties of EMS Practitioners

A. A licensed emergency medical services practitioner may perform any of the following functions while caring for a patient at the scene of a medical or other emergency, during the transport of a patient where voice contact is established with a physician and under the physician's order, or under the protocol that has been approved by the local parish medical society or the emergency medical services practitioner's medical director:

1. services, treatment, and procedures consistent with the national EMS education standards that have been approved and adopted by the bureau, to the extent that he or she has been trained to perform such services, treatment or procedures.

2. administration of other drugs or procedures for which the licensed emergency medical services practitioner has received training, license, and approval by the commission and which may be considered necessary by the ordering physician.

3. determine, based on approved protocols, whether it is appropriate for a person to be transported by ground ambulance to an alternative destination when the individual condition does not meet the definition of emergency medical conditions, however:

a. no person shall be transported to an alternative destination unless he or she consents to being transported to that destination; and

b. no emergency medical services practitioner shall transport a person to an alternative destination in which the practitioner or practitioner's employer has a financial interest.

B. An emergency medical services practitioner student, while he or she is enrolled in good standing in a state-approved educational program, and under the direct supervision of a physician, registered nurse, paramedic or other preceptor recognized by the bureau, may:

1. perform services, treatments, and procedures consistent with national EMS education standards that have been approved and adopted by the bureau, and to the extent that he or she has been trained to perform such services, treatment, and procedures.

C. In case of a life-threatening situation as determined by a licensed emergency medical services practitioner, when voice contact with a physician is delayed, not possible, or when the delay in treatment could endanger the life of the patient, the emergency medical services practitioner may provide treatment to the patient in accordance with:

1. a protocol approved by the EMS medical director who is a board-certified or a board-eligible emergency medicine physician; or

2. a protocol established by the emergency medical services committee or the executive committee of the parish or component medical society or its designee.

a. In the event that there is no organized or functional local medical society within a parish of the state at the time that an EMS practitioner responds to a life-threatening situation therein under the conditions outlined in Subsection C of this Section, the protocol established by the EMS medical director may be applied.

La. Admin. Code tit. 46, § XXXVIII-103

Promulgated by the Department of Health, Office of Public Health, Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, LR 50246 (2/1/2024), Amended LR 50989 (7/1/2024).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 1133.5(9), and R.S. 40:2017.10.