Standards of Practice

 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
Board of Medicine

RULE NO.: RULE TITLE:
64B8-9.007Standards of Practice

Notice is hereby given that the following changes have been made to the proposed rule in accordance with subparagraph 120.54(3)(d)1., F.S., published in Vol. 38, No. 24, of the June 15, 2012, issue of the Florida Administrative Weekly. The change is in response to public hearings held on the rule on August 3, 2012, in Tampa, Florida; on October 11, 2012, in Deerfield Beach, Florida; and on November 29, 2012, in Orlando, Florida. The Board considered the testimony of the parties at the hearings and determined that the following changes are appropriate.

1. Subsection (2)(b) shall now read as follows:

(b) Except in life-threatening emergencies requiring immediate resuscitative measures, once the patient has been prepared for the elective surgery/procedure and the team has been gathered and immediately prior to the initiation of any procedure, the team will pause and the physician(s) performing the procedure will verbally confirm the patient’s identification, the intended procedure and the correct surgical/procedure site. The operating physician shall not make any incision or perform any surgery or procedure prior to performing this required confirmation. If the surgery/procedure is performed in a facility licensed pursuant to Chapter 395, F.S., or a level II or III surgery/procedure is performed in an office surgery setting, the physician(s) performing the procedure and another Florida licensed health care practitioner shall verbally and simultaneously confirm the patient’s identification, the intended procedure and the correct surgical/procedure site prior to making any incision or initiating the procedure. The medical record shall specifically reflect when this confirmation procedure was completed and which personnel on the team confirmed each item. This requirement for confirmation applies to physicians performing procedures either in office settings or facilities licensed pursuant to Chapter 395, F.S., and shall be in addition to any other requirements that may be required by the office or facility.

2. The proposed amendments to subsections (2)(c) as published in Vol. 38, No. 24, of the Florida Administrative Weekly shall remain the same.

3. The proposed subsection (2)(e) shall now read as follows:

(e) At any time after the pause is completed, but before the procedure is initiated, if the physician(s) leave(s) the room where the procedure is being performed, upon his or her return, the pause set forth in subsection (b) above must be performed again.

4. Section 458.331(1)(v), F.S., shall be added to the Rulemaking Authority.

 

THE PERSON TO BE CONTACTED REGARDING THE PROPOSED RULE IS: Allison M. Dudley, J.D., Executive Director, Board of Medicine, 4052 Bald Cypress Way, Bin #C03, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3253.