54.1-2961 - Interns and residents in hospitals.
§ 54.1-2961. Interns and residents in hospitals.
A. Interns and residents holding temporary licenses may be employed in alegally established and licensed hospital, medical school or otherorganization operating an approved graduate medical education program whentheir practice is confined to persons who are bona fide patients within thehospital or other organization or who receive treatment and advice in anoutpatient department of the hospital or an institution affiliated with thegraduate medical education program.
B. Such intern or resident shall be responsible and accountable at all timesto a licensed member of the staff. The training of interns and residentsshall be consistent with the requirements of the agencies cited in subsectionD and the policies and procedures of the hospital, medical school or otherorganization operating a graduate medical education program. No intern orresident holding a temporary license may be employed by any hospital or otherorganization operating an approved graduate medical education program unlesshe has completed successfully the preliminary academic education required foradmission to examinations given by the Board in his particular field ofpractice.
C. No intern or resident holding a temporary license shall serve in anyhospital or other organization operating an approved graduate medicaleducation program in this Commonwealth for longer than the time prescribed bythe graduate medical education program. The Board may prescribe regulationsnot in conflict with existing law and require such reports from hospitals orother organizations in the Commonwealth as may be necessary to carry out theprovisions of this section.
D. Such employment shall be a part of an internship or residency trainingprogram approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Educationor American Osteopathic Association or American Podiatric Medical Associationor Council on Chiropractic Education. No unlicensed intern or resident may beemployed as an intern or resident by any hospital or other organizationoperating an approved graduate medical education program. The Board maydetermine the extent and scope of the duties and professional services whichmay be rendered by interns and residents.
E. The Board of Medicine shall adopt guidelines concerning the ethicalpractice of physicians practicing in emergency rooms, surgeons, and internsand residents practicing in hospitals, particularly hospital emergency rooms,or other organizations operating graduate medical education programs. Theseguidelines shall not be construed to be or to establish standards of care orto be regulations and shall be exempt from the requirements of theAdministrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.). The Medical College ofVirginia of Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of VirginiaSchool of Medicine, the Eastern Virginia Medical School, the Medical Societyof Virginia, and the Virginia Hospital and Health Care Association shallcooperate with the Board in the development of these guidelines.
The guidelines shall include, but need not be limited to (i) the obtaining ofinformed consent from all patients or from the next of kin or legallyauthorized representative, to the extent practical under the circumstances inwhich medical care is being rendered, when the patient is incapable of makingan informed decision, after such patients or other persons have beeninformed as to which physicians, residents, or interns will perform thesurgery or other invasive procedure; (ii) except in emergencies and otherunavoidable situations, the need, consistent with the informed consent, foran attending physician to be present during the surgery or other invasiveprocedure; (iii) policies to avoid situations, unless the circumstances fallwithin an exception in the Board's guidelines or the policies of the relevanthospital, medical school or other organization operating the graduate medicaleducation program, in which a surgeon, intern or resident represents that hewill perform a surgery or other invasive procedure that he then fails toperform; and (iv) policies addressing informed consent and the ethics ofappropriate care of patients in emergency rooms. Such policies shall takeinto consideration the nonbinding ban developed by the American MedicalAssociation in 2000 on using newly dead patients as training subjects withoutthe consent of the next of kin or other legal representative to extentpractical under the circumstances in which medical care is being rendered.
F. The Board shall publish and distribute the guidelines required bysubsection E to its licensees.
(Code 1950, § 54-276.7; 1952, c. 690; 1958, c. 294; 1964, c. 284; 1975, c.508; 1978, c. 408; 1986, c. 307; 1987, c. 44; 1988, c. 765; 1998, c. 614;2002, cc. 87, 478; 2003, c. 482.)