Section 4760.031. Completion of training requirements

As a condition of being eligible to receive a certificate to practice as an anesthesiologist assistant, an individual must successfully complete the following training requirements:

(A) A baccalaureate or higher degree program at an institution of higher education accredited by an organization recognized by the board of regents. The program must have included courses in the following areas of study:

(1) General biology;

(2) General chemistry;

(3) Organic chemistry;

(4) Physics;

(5) Calculus.

(B) A training program conducted for the purpose of preparing individuals to practice as anesthesiologist assistants. If the program was completed prior to May 31, 2000, the program must have been completed at case western reserve university or emory university in Atlanta, Georgia. If the program is completed on or after May 31, 2000, the program must be a graduate-level program accredited by the commission on accreditation of allied health education programs or any of the commission's successor organizations. In either case, the training program must have included at least all of the following components:

(1) Basic sciences of anesthesia: physiology, pathophysiology, anatomy, and biochemistry. The 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.

(2) Pharmacology for the anesthetic sciences. The course must include instruction in the anesthetic principles of pharmacology, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, uptake and distribution, intravenous anesthetics and narcotics, and volatile anesthetics.

(3) Physics in anesthesia.

(4) 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.

(5) Patient instrumentation and monitoring, presented as a continuum of courses focusing on the design of, proper preparation of, and proper methods of resolving problems that arise with anesthesia equipment. The courses must provide a balance between the engineering concepts used in anesthesia instruments and the clinical application of anesthesia instruments.

(6) Clinically based conferences in which techniques of anesthetic management, quality assurance issues, and current professional literature are reviewed from the perspective of practice improvement.

(7) Clinical experience consisting of at least two thousand hours of direct patient contact, presented as a continuum of courses throughout the entirety of the program, beginning with a gradual introduction of the techniques for the anesthetic management of patients and culminating in the assimilation of the graduate of the program into the work force. Areas of instruction must include the following:

(a) Preoperative patient assessment;

(b) Indwelling vascular catheter placement, including intravenous and arterial catheters;

(c) Airway management, including mask airway and orotracheal intubation;

(d) Intraoperative charting;

(e) Administration and maintenance of anesthetic agents, narcotics, hypnotics, and muscle relaxants;

(f) Administration and maintenance of volatile anesthetics;

(g) Administration of blood products and fluid therapy;

(h) Patient monitoring;

(i) Postoperative management of patients;

(j) Regional anesthesia techniques;

(k) Administration of vasoactive substances for treatment of unacceptable patient hemodynamic status;

(l) Specific clinical training in all the subspecialties of anesthesia, including pediatrics, neurosurgery, cardiovascular surgery, trauma, obstetrics, orthopedics, and vascular surgery.

(8) Basic life support that qualifies the individual to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation to patients in need. The course must include the instruction necessary to be certified in basic life support by the American red cross or the American heart association.

(9) Advanced cardiac life support that qualifies the individual to participate in the pharmacologic intervention and management resuscitation efforts for a patient in full cardiac arrest. The course must include the instruction necessary to be certified in advanced cardiac life support by the American red cross or the American heart association.

Amended by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 64, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2015.

Effective Date: 05-31-2000