§ 90-682.  Definitions.

The following definitions apply in this Article:

(1) Certified clinical perfusionist. - A person who has successfully completed the examination process and has been issued a certificate by the American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion or its successor organization.

(2) Committee. - The Perfusionist Advisory Committee of the North Carolina Medical Board.

(3) Extracorporeal circulation. - The diversion of a patient's blood through a heart-lung machine or a similar device that assumes the functions of the patient's heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, or other organs.

(4) Licensee. - A person who has been issued a license to practice perfusion under this Article.

(5) Medical Board. - The North Carolina Medical Board, as established under Article 1 of this Chapter.

(6) Perfusion protocols. - Perfusion-related policies and protocols developed or approved by a licensed health care facility or a physician through collaboration with administrators, licensed perfusionists, and other health care professionals.

(7) Practice of perfusion. - The performing of functions, under the supervision of a licensed physician, necessary for the support, treatment, measurement, or supplementation of the cardiovascular, circulatory, and respiratory systems or other organs, or a combination of those functions, and the ensuring of safe management of physiological function by monitoring and analyzing the parameters of the systems during any medical situation where it is necessary to support or replace the patient's cardiopulmonary or circulatory function. The term also includes the use of extracorporeal circulation, long-term cardiopulmonary support techniques, including extracorporeal carbon-dioxide removal and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and associated therapeutic and diagnostic technologies; counterpulsation, ventricular assistance, autotransfusion, blood conservation techniques, myocardial and organ preservation, extracorporeal life support, and isolated limb perfusion; the use of techniques involving blood management, advanced life support, and other related functions; and, in the performance of the acts described in this subdivision, (i) the administration of pharmacological and therapeutic agents, blood products, or anesthetic agents through the extracorporeal circuit or through an intravenous line as ordered by a physician; (ii) the performance and use of anticoagulation monitoring and analysis, physiologic monitoring and analysis, blood gas and chemistry monitoring and analysis, hematological monitoring and analysis, hypothermia, hyperthermia, hemoconcentration and hemodilution, and hemodialysis in conjunction with perfusion service; and (iii) the observation of signs and symptoms related to perfusion services, the determination of whether the signs and symptoms exhibit abnormal characteristics, and the implementation of appropriate reporting, perfusion protocols, or changes in or the initiation of emergency procedures. (2005-267, s. 1; 2007-525, s. 5.)