This section defines terms used in sections 71-507 to 71-513 and says each emergency services provider must designate a physician.
For purposes of sections 71-507 to 71-513: (1) Alternate facility means a facility other than a health care facility that receives a patient transported to the facility by an emergency services provider; (2) Department means the Department of Health and Human Services; (3) Designated physician means the physician representing the emergency services provider as identified by name, address, and telephone number on the significant exposure report form. The designated physician shall serve as the contact for notification in the event an emergency services provider believes he or she has had significant exposure to an infectious disease or condition. Each emergency services provider shall designate a physician as provided in subsection (2) of section 71-509; (4) Emergency services provider means an emergency care provider licensed pursuant to the Emergency Medical Services Practice Act or authorized pursuant to the EMS Personnel Licensure Interstate Compact, a sheriff, a deputy sheriff, a police officer, a state highway patrol officer, a funeral director, a paid or volunteer firefighter, a school district employee, and a person rendering emergency care gratuitously as described in section 25-21,186; (5) Funeral director means a person licensed under section 38-1414 or an employee of such a person with responsibility for transport or handling of a deceased human; (6) Funeral establishment means a business licensed under section 38-1419; (7) Health care facility has the meaning found in sections 71-419, 71-420, 71-424, and 71-429 or any facility that receives patients of emergencies who are transported to the facility by emergency services providers; (8) Infectious disease or condition means hepatitis B, hepatitis C, meningococcal meningitis, active pulmonary tuberculosis, human immunodeficiency virus, diphtheria, plague, hemorrhagic fevers, rabies, and such other diseases as the department may by rule and regulation specify; (9) Patient means an individual who is sick, injured, wounded, deceased, or otherwise helpless or incapacitated; (10) Patient's attending physician means the physician having the primary responsibility for the patient as indicated on the records of a health care facility; (11) Provider agency means any law enforcement agency, fire department, emergency medical service, funeral establishment, or other entity which employs or directs emergency services providers or public safety officials; (12) Public safety official means a sheriff, a deputy sheriff, a police officer, a state highway patrol officer, a paid or volunteer firefighter, a school district employee, and any civilian law enforcement employee or volunteer performing his or her duties, other than those as an emergency services provider; (13) Responsible person means an individual who has been designated by an alternate facility to carry out the facility's responsibilities under sections 71-507 to 71-513. A responsible person may be designated on a case-by-case basis; (14) Significant exposure means a situation in which the body fluids, including blood, saliva, urine, respiratory secretions, or feces, of a patient or individual have entered the body of an emergency services provider or public safety official through a body opening including the mouth or nose, a mucous membrane, or a break in skin from cuts or abrasions, from a contaminated needlestick or scalpel, from intimate respiratory contact, or through any other situation when the patient's or individual's body fluids may have entered the emergency services provider's or public safety official's body or when an airborne pathogen may have been transmitted from the patient or individual to the emergency services provider or public safety official; and (15) Significant exposure report form means the form used by the emergency services provider to document information necessary for notification of significant exposure to an infectious disease or condition. History: Laws 1989, LB 157, § 1; Laws 1991, LB 244, § 2; Laws 1992, LB 1138, § 20; Laws 1994, LB 1210, § 111; Laws 1996, LB 1044, § 497; Laws 1996, LB 1155, § 27; Laws 1997, LB 138, § 46; Laws 1997, LB 608, § 5; Laws 1999, LB 781, § 1; Laws 2000, LB 819, § 95; Laws 2003, LB 55, § 1; Laws 2006, LB 1115, § 36; Laws 2007, LB296, § 385; Laws 2007, LB463, § 1182; Laws 2018, LB1034, § 58; Laws 2020, LB1002, § 45.