A bill

 

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTION 40-47-1250, RELATING TO SUPERVISION OF ANESTHESIOLOGIST'S ASSISTANTS, SO AS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF ANESTHESIOLOGIST'S ASSISTANTS THAT AN ANESTHESIOLOGIST MAY SUPERVISE; AND BY AMENDING SECTION 40-47-1240, RELATING TO LICENSURE OF ANESTHESIOLOGIST'S ASSISTANTS, SO AS TO REMOVE  THE REQUIREMENT THAT LICENSURE APPLICANTS MUST APPEAR BEFORE A MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS AND PRESENT EVIDENCE OF CERTAIN RELEVANT ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS AND KNOWLEDGE.

 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

 

SECTION 1.  Section 40-47-1250 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    Section 40-47-1250.  An anesthesiologist's assistant shall practice only under the supervision of a physician who is actively and directly engaged in the clinical practice of medicine and meets the definition of being a supervising anesthesiologist.  An anesthesiologist may not supervise more than two four anesthesiologist's assistants at any one time.

 

SECTION 2.  Section 40-47-1240 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    Section 40-47-1240.  Except as otherwise provided in this article, an individual must obtain a license in accordance with this article before the individual may practice as an anesthesiologist's assistant. The board shall grant a license as an anesthesiologist's assistant to an applicant who has:

    (1) submitted a completed application on forms provided by the board;

    (2) paid the nonrefundable application fees established in this article;

    (3) certified that he or she is mentally and physically able to engage safely in practice as an anesthesiologist's assistant;

    (4) submitted evidence to the board that the applicant has obtained a baccalaureate or higher degree from an institution of higher education accredited by an organization recognized by the Commission on Higher Education. This degree program must have included courses in these areas of study:

       (a) general biology;

       (b) general chemistry;

       (c) organic chemistry;

       (d) physics;

       (e) calculus;  and

    (5) submitted evidence to the board that the applicant has obtained a graduate-level degree from a program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, or any of the commission's successor organizations, and the graduate degree program must have included the following:

       (a) courses in the basic sciences of anesthesia, including general pharmacology, physiology, pathophysiology, anatomy, and biochemistry, and these courses must be presented as a continuum of didactic courses designed to teach students the foundations of human biological existence on which clinical correlations to anesthesia practice are based;

       (b) pharmacology for the anesthetic sciences which must include instruction in the anesthetic principles of pharmacology, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, uptake and distribution, intravenous anesthetics and narcotics, and volatile anesthetics;

       (c) physics in anesthesia;  and

       (d) fundamentals of anesthetic sciences, presented as a continuum of courses covering a series of topics in basic medical sciences with special emphasis on the effects of anesthetics on normal physiology and pathophysiology;

    (6) submitted evidence satisfactory to the board that the applicant holds current certification from the National Commission for Certification of Anesthesiologist's Assistants and that the requirements for receiving the certification included passage of an examination to determine the individual's competence to practice as an anesthesiologist's assistant;

    (7) no licensure, certificate, or registration as an anesthesiologist's assistant under current discipline, revocation, suspension, probation, or investigation for cause resulting from the applicant's practice as an anesthesiologist's assistant in any jurisdiction; and

    (8) appeared before a board member or board designee with his or her sponsoring anesthesiologist, presenting all original diplomas and certificates and demonstrated knowledge of the contents of this article;  and

    (9)(8) submitted to the board any other information the board considers necessary to evaluate the applicant's qualifications.

 

SECTION 3.  This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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