South Carolina § 44-7-3420 - Definitions.

§ 44-7-3420. Definitions.

For purposes of this article:

(1) "Clinical staff" means persons who work in a hospital whose duties include the personal care or medical treatment of patients. "Clinical staff" includes, but is not limited to, credentialed physicians, physicians' assistants, nurses, nursing aides, medical technicians, therapists, and other individuals involved in the personal care or medical treatment of patients.

(2) "Clinical trainees" means persons who are receiving health care professional training in a hospital, either paid or unpaid, students or licensed professionals, whose training includes the personal care or medical treatment of patients. "Clinical trainees" includes, but is not limited to, resident physicians, medical students, nursing students, and other students and individuals in health care professional training in a hospital.

(3) "Credentialed caregiver" means a nurse practitioner or physician's assistant who is licensed to care for patients within his or her scope of practice.

(4) "Credentialed physician" means a licensed physician who has completed his or her postgraduate medical training who has medical staff privileges at a hospital.

(5) "Attending physician" means a licensed physician who has completed his or her postgraduate medical training and who has medical staff privileges at a hospital and who has primary responsibility for a patient's care while the patient is in the hospital.

(6) "Designee" means a credentialed physician or a credentialed caregiver whom a patient's attending physician has designated to care for the patient in the absence of the attending physician.

(7) "Medical student" means an individual enrolled in a program culminating in a degree in medicine.

(8) "Patient" means an individual who is being treated by a physician in a hospital and includes a patient's representative or an individual allowed by law to make health care decisions for a patient who is a minor or who is unable to consent to health care treatment for himself or herself, or both.

(9) "Resident physician" means an individual who is participating in any graduate medical education program and whose relationship to the patient is under the auspices of the medical education program.

(10) "Intern" means an individual who is an advanced student or graduate in medicine gaining supervised practical experience.

HISTORY: 2005 Act No. 146, SECTION 1, eff upon approval (became law without the Governor's signature on June 8, 2005).