Esta ley establece el Centro de Estudios Avanzados para el Personal de Emergencias Médicas del Sector Público en Puerto Rico. Su objetivo es mejorar el desarrollo profesional de este personal a través de capacitación, reentrenamiento y educación continua, alineando sus conocimientos y habilidades con los avances médicos y tecnológicos. La ley detalla las funciones del Centro, su autonomía operativa, la diferenciación por categorías de profesionales de emergencias médicas, la presentación de informes, la figura del Director, las fuentes de financiamiento y la relación con la Ley Núm. 310 de 2002. También autoriza al Centro a ofrecer programas académicos avanzados y servicios a entidades privadas.
(Approved August 31, 2004)
To establish the Center for Advanced Studies for Public Sector Medical Emergencies Personnel, entrusted to promote advanced professional development for government medical emergencies personnel through training, retraining, continuing education and advanced level academic courses that shall allow for harmonizing their knowledge and skills with new medical and technological developments.
Our country currently lacks post-secondary institutions that, operating with public funds, provide formal academic courses and training for medical emergency technicians working in the various government entities.
Insufficient academic instruction and lack of appropriate training and retraining for this sector are factors that affect the work of government medical emergencies technicians and have unavoidable repercussions on the quality of the services rendered, the proven performance and the results of the interventions of said personnel.
The above situation gives rise to the indelegable responsibility of the State to ensure that these public service health professionals fulfill the minimum training and competency demands and requirements, due to the public interest in seeing that their interventions in medical emergencies be performed under strict professional controls, with diligence and unquestionable technical/professional education. In this sense, the government has the responsibility of ensuring that the
health of the Puerto Rican people be cared for by certified professionals with the best training and qualifications to capably handle pre-hospital emergencies.
Quick, efficient and effective attention during a medical emergency shall depend upon the training of medical emergency technicians for preserving the health, reducing irreparable damages or preventing disabilities which may arise from the intervention by these professionals. At the same time, the effective intervention of a highly qualified professional shall determine whether the person assisted may be fully reintegrated into his/her daily routine all the sooner.
The medical emergencies technicians that work in the various government instrumentalities are professionals truly committed to public service. They are hard working technicians who strive to do quality work, as well as persons of the highest ethical fiber. However, regarding many facets of their work, they have not received the institutional support of the State and the various educational entities to hone their skills and harmonize their knowledge with the strictest standards of medical emergencies management. Historical, social and economic circumstances have caused that a good measure of the way in which this sector approaches a medical intervention be the product of the informal diffusion of skills, without the support of a full formal education.
The academic and technical programs now being offered neither include nor offer in the most appropriate manner those elements inherent and essential to the profession that need to be addressed in order that the authentic commitment of these professionals be translated into their competent, complete and adequate performance.
For the aforementioned reasons, it is imperative to create a government institution that offers academic programs and other professional development courses that shall place the government medical emergencies personnel at the forefront of specialized knowledge in this area of health services. Through the
establishment of such an institution, our people shall have available better prepared public servants, better trained in medical emergencies management and less likely to incur technical faults during their interventions. Likewise, the State shall assume its institutional responsibility by lessening the risks of a deficient intervention, by reducing the probability of incurring high costs due to legal actions against the State and even more importantly, by providing more safeguards and guarantees for the life and health of our citizens.
In this sense, the Center created herein shall constitute an operational extension for medical emergencies professionals for exclusive application to the personnel working in the government. By means of this Act, the State establishes the legislative mandate for the Center to offer training, retraining, continuing education and advanced level academic programs to medical emergencies personnel working in the various government entities.
The evident lack of a higher level government institution that develops and redirects the training of these public professionals in a responsible and committed manner, in agreement with the most advanced criteria in the area of medical emergencies is hereby addressed by the Law through the creation of this entity.
The Center for Advanced Studies for the Training and Retraining of the Medical Emergencies Personnel of the Government of Puerto Rico, hereinafter referred to as the Center, is hereby established as an entity attached to the College of Health Related Professions.
Section 2-. Statement of Public Policy It is hereby declared as the public policy of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico that all medical emergencies personnel working in any of its agencies, instrumentalities, public corporations or municipalities shall meet the highest
standards and professional requirements in the field of medical emergencies to protect the high public interest for ensuring that the medical emergencies personnel employed in its various entities and units observe the most strict parameters of the profession and abide by the training, retraining and continuing education requirements that satisfactorily comply with the demands of Act No. 310 of December 25, 2002, and allow said personnel to harmonize their skills and knowledge with the new technological and scientific developments and the most advanced techniques in the field of medical emergencies.
The training, retraining and continuing education courses administered by the Center shall be deemed to be instruments complementary to the requirements set forth in Act No. 310 of 2002, known as the "Act to Create the Board of Examiners of Medical Emergency Technicians." It shall in no way be understood that the provisions of this Act divert from the purpose and objectives established in Act No. 310, since the provisions set forth herein constitute a complementary mechanism, not a substitute to the provisions established in the aforementioned Act No. 310 .
The primary institutional responsibility entrusted to the Center shall be to provide a broad and diverse assortment of training, retraining and continuing education courses, advanced level academic programs and other academic offerings, all geared toward verifying, validating and allowing public medical emergencies personnel to acquire advanced skills and knowledge in the areas of trauma, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, neonatal care, cardiology, obstetrics and all other areas that, as determined by the Center, are necessary for the optimal development of the government medical emergencies personnel, and for their services and intervention to be supported and imbued in advanced skills, criteria
and knowledge in medical emergency management. For such purposes, it is hereby provided that all government medical emergencies personnel shall comply in a mandatory and exclusive manner with the legal and administrative requirements in the areas of training and retraining in the Center created by this legislation. On the other hand, the Center shall be one of the alternatives available within our jurisdiction to the government medical emergencies personnel regarding the administration of continuing education activities and the offering of advanced level academic programs.
Section 5.- Operational and Practical Autonomy The Center shall have full practical and operational autonomy in matters pertaining to the design of courses, strategies and educational approach, organization of educational areas, the contracting of faculty and non-faculty personnel, the evaluation of the beneficiaries of its programs and the certification stating that a person has complied with the demands and requirements established by the Center and which serve the purposes of this Act.
Section 6.- Differentiation by the Categories in Act No. 310 of 2002 The training, retraining and continuing education courses administered by the Center shall be configured according to the categories established in Act No. 310 of 2002 for the various medical emergencies professionals.
Section 7.- Reports The Center, through its officers, shall evaluate the effectiveness of its offerings and programs annually, and shall submit the corresponding reports to the Legislature and the Office of Management and Budget. Concurrently, the Center shall annually remit to said entities complete and detailed reports on its operations and financial statements for each fiscal year within sixty days after the closing of the corresponding fiscal year.
The Program shall have an Executive Director appointed by the Dean of the College of Health Related Professionals with the consent of the Chancellor of the Medical Sciences Campus. The person thus appointed shall have academic studies in the area of education and knowledge of administration and supervision. The Executive Director shall carry out the duties of the office at the will of the Dean and until a successor is appointed. The salary of the Director shall be established by the Dean with the approval of the Chancellor of the Medical Sciences Campus according to the budget established to defray the operating expenses of the Center.
The Director shall appoint and contract qualified personnel to carry out the functions imposed by the current Act and may determine the use of the facilities and the materials needed for the Program to accomplish its entrusted purpose.
Section 9.- Complementary Funding Sources The Center may accept donations from any natural or juridical person and from any department, agency, instrumentality, public corporation or municipality of the Government of Puerto Rico or of the United States of America. The money thus obtained, as well as any other acquired for consulting services, training and other related services that the Center may offer, shall be used exclusively in compliance with the purposes of the Center and in proportion to the needs of each of its functions.
Section 10.- Appropriations for the Center The recurrent amount of five hundred thousand dollars $($ 500,000)$ is hereby appropriated from unencumbered State Treasury funds for the sole use of the Center, pursuant to the provisions of this Act. Said amount shall be used to defray the operating and administrative expenses of the Center. Provided, however, that the different agencies, instrumentalities, public corporations and municipalities with personnel that benefits from the offerings of the Center shall assume the
responsibility of investing in the education and training of their employees by defraying the entailed costs. It shall be understood that the funds received from the government entities to comply with the aforementioned duty shall originate from the items corresponding to training expenses reserved by each of said government entities.
Section 11.- Compliance with Act No. 310 The training, retraining and continuing education offerings of the Center shall harmonize with the provisions set forth in Act No. 310.
Section 12.- Advanced Level Academic and Continuing Education Programs The Center is hereby empowered to create and administer advanced level academic medical emergencies programs from bachelor's degrees up to doctorates and continuing education programs. The establishment and expansion of such programs shall be staggered and done according to the degree in which the Center is able to avail itself of and extend its funding sources. The programs thus created shall be one of the alternatives that the government medical emergencies personnel shall have available for obtaining advanced academic degrees in this professional field and for obtaining continuing education courses. The Center shall establish the criteria for admission to such programs and the enrollment fees to be charged for said programs. Provided, that the Center shall pay for a large part of the required costs of offering such degrees, for the fees for enrolling and participating in these programs to be reasonable, affordable and fair for the public employees interested in enrolling in said courses.
Section 13.- Scope for the Application of the Offerings and Programs The offerings of the Center regarding training, retraining, continuing education and advanced level academic programs shall be designed and administered exclusively for government personnel. However, in the degree that the Center is able to broaden its operations and offerings, it is hereby authorized to provide such
services to private entities as deemed pertinent without this implying that such entities shall have the obligation of enrolling their personnel in the courses offered by the Center, and it being understood that, if so done, the private entity shall accept the requirements, admissions criteria and economic demands of the Center in order to be able to participate in its programs and offerings.
Section 14.- Severability If any of the provisions of this Act were to be declared unconstitutional in its face or in its application by any court with jurisdiction, it shall be understood that such a decision shall not affect the validity or effectiveness of its remaining provisions.
Section 15.- Effectiveness This Act shall take effect sixty days after its approval, for the administrative structure of the Center to be organized and for the establishment of its operations pursuant to the requirements set forth in this Act.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 235 (H.B. 3774) of the $7^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to establish the Center for Advanced Studies for Public Sector Medical Emergencies Personnel, entrusted to promote advanced professional development for government medical emergencies personnel through training, retraining, continuing education and advanced level academic courses that shall allow for harmonizing their knowledge and skills with new medical and technological developments, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $13^{ ext {th }}$ of February of 2007.
Francisco J. Domenech Director