---
title: O.C.G.A. § 31-11-55. Services which may be rendered by certified cardiac technicians and trainees.
collection: code
id: 31-11-55
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 31-11-55 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-11-55
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-11-55.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-11-55/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t31-(v23)-2025-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=da7ded69_0#page=717
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
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publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Session of the General Assembly of Georgia
heading_path: HEALTH / EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES / PERSONNEL
---

# O.C.G.A. § 31-11-55. Services which may be rendered by certified cardiac technicians and trainees.

(a) Upon certification by the department, cardiac technicians may do any of the following:

(1) Render first-aid and resuscitation services;

(2) Upon the order of a duly licensed physician and as recommended by the Georgia Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council and approved by the department:

(A) Perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation in a hemodynamically unstable patient;

(B) Administer approved intravenous solutions;

(C) Administer parenteral injections of antiarrhythmic agents, vagolytic agents, chronotropic agents, alkalizing agents, analgesic agents, and vasopressor agents or administer opioid antagonists;

(D) Perform pulmonary ventilation by esophageal airway and endotracheal intubation; and

(E) Upon the order of a duly licensed physician during a public health emergency, as defined in Code Section 31-12-1.1, administer vaccines.

(b) While in training preparatory to becoming certified, cardiac technician trainees may perform any of the functions specified in this Code section under the direct supervision of a duly licensed physician or a registered nurse.

## History

Code 1933, § 88-3112.4, enacted by Ga. L. 1977, p. 281, § 5; Ga. L. 2001, p. 1145, § 5; Ga. L. 2014, p. 683, § 2-5/HB 965; Ga. L. 2021, p. 782, § 6/SB 46.

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 2014, p. 683, § 2-1/HB 965, not codified by the General Assembly, provides:

“WHEREAS, Naloxone is an opioid antagonist developed to counter the effects of opiate overdose, specifically the life threatening depression of the central nervous and respiratory systems; and

“WHEREAS, Naloxone is clinically administered via intramuscular, intravenous, or subcutaneous injection; and

“WHEREAS, Naloxone is administered outside of a clinical setting or facility intranasally via nasal atomizer; and

“WHEREAS, the American Medical Association supported the lay administration of this life saving drug in 2012; and

“WHEREAS, similar Naloxone access laws have reversed more than 10,000 opioid overdoses by lay people in other states; and

“WHEREAS, the American Medical Association acknowledged that ‘fatalities caused by opioid overdose can devastate families and communities, and we must do more to prevent these unnecessary deaths’; and

“WHEREAS, the National Institutes of Health found that Naloxone ‘lacks any psychoactive or addictive qualities . . . without any potential for abuse . . . [and] medical side effects or other problematic unintended consequences associated with Naloxone have not been reported’; and

“WHEREAS, any administration of Naloxone to an individual experiencing an opioid overdose must be followed by professional medical attention and treatment.”

Ga. L. 2014, p. 683, § 3-1/HB 965, not codified by the General Assembly, provides, in part, that Parts I and II of this Act shall apply to all acts committed on or after April 24, 2014.

For application of this statute in 2021, see Executive Order 01.07.21.02.