General standards for providing emergency medical services

Regardless of the type of service through which an emergency medical service agency is providing emergency medical services, the following standards apply to the emergency medical service agency and its emergency medical service providers when functioning as an emergency medical service provider on behalf of an emergency medical service agency, except as otherwise provided in this section: 1. An emergency medical service provider who encounters a patient before the arrival of other emergency medical service providers shall attend to the patient and begin providing emergency medical services to the patient at that emergency medical service provider's skill level. 2. An emergency medical responder may not be the emergency medical service provider who primarily attends to a patient unless another higher-level emergency medical service provider is not present or all other emergency medical service providers who are present are attending to other patients. An emergency medical responder may not attend to a patient during transport unless another higher-level emergency medical service provider is present. 3. Except as set forth in subsection 2, or unless there are multiple patients and the emergency medical services needs of other patients require otherwise, among emergency medical service providers who are present, an emergency medical service provider who is certified at or above the emergency medical services skill level required by the patient shall be the emergency medical service provider who primarily attends to the patient. 4. If a patient requires emergency medical services at a higher skill level than the skill level of the emergency medical service providers who are present, unless there are multiple patients and the emergency medical services needs of other patients require otherwise, an emergency medical service provider who is licensed at the highest emergency medical services skill level among the emergency medical service providers who are present shall be the emergency medical service provider who primarily attends to the patient. 5. A member of the emergency medical service vehicle crew with the highest level of emergency medical service provider licensure shall be responsible for the overall management of the emergency medical services provided to the patient or patients by the members of that emergency medical service vehicle crew. If more than one member of the emergency medical service vehicle crew is an emergency medical service provider above the advanced emergency medical technician level, any of those emergency medical service providers may assume responsibility for the overall management of the emergency medical services provided to the patient or patients by the members of that emergency medical service vehicle crew. 6. If an emergency medical service vehicle crew needs additional assistance in attending to the needs of a patient or patients, it shall contact a public safety answering point or its emergency medical service agency dispatch center to request that assistance. 7. Except as otherwise provided in rule, a ground ambulance service shall operate twenty-four hours per day seven days per week, each type of service it is licensed to provide at each location it is licensed to operate that service. 8. A member of an emergency medical service vehicle crew who responds to a call in a personal vehicle may not transport in that vehicle medications, equipment, or supplies that an emergency medical technician is not authorized to use.