§ 37:1051 — Examinations and educational requirements

A. Examinations given by the board shall be based upon subjects taught in approved schools and colleges of optometry, such as general anatomy, physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, anatomy, and physiology of the eye, general physiology, general pathology, ocular pathology, ocular neurology, ocular myology, psychology, physiological optics, optometrical mechanics, vision therapy, visual field charting, orthoptics, clinical optometry, contact lenses, primary eye care procedures, general pharmacology and ocular pharmacology with emphasis on the use of ocular diagnostic and therapeutic pharmaceutical agents, and the applications of the general law of optics and refraction and such other materials and subjects as are essential in the practice of optometry. Examinations shall be conducted at least once annually on dates fixed by the board.
B. All written examinations held by the board and the answers of applicants shall be kept as records by the board for at least one year.
C.(1) Under regulations established, published, and administered by the board, optometrists who graduated from optometry school prior to 1993 desiring to qualify for certification to treat abnormal conditions and pathology of the human eye and its adnexa, including employment of therapeutic pharmaceutical agents, shall be required to qualify for such certification from the board by furnishing proof of satisfactory completion of additional studies with particular emphasis on the examination, diagnosis, and treatment of abnormal conditions and pathology of the human eye and its adnexa. No optometrist shall carry out such treatment or employ such pharmaceutical agents without such certification. He shall have current certification that he has completed a basic course in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and proof that he possesses in his office an automatic epinephrine injector that is operable and on which the expiration date has not passed.
(2) Such studies shall be provided by an educational institution accredited by a regional or professional accreditation organization which is recognized or approved by the Council of Postsecondary Accreditation of the United States Office of Education and approved by the board.
(3) The required additional studies shall include a minimum of forty-six clock hours of didactic education and thirty-four clock hours of approved supervised clinical training which shall be the equivalent of at least five semester hours of postgraduate education in the examination, diagnosis, and treatment of abnormal conditions and pathology of the human eye and its adnexa. Courses of study shall include but not be limited to the following areas: pharmacological principles, pharmacological antibiotics, pharmacological principles of the autonomic nervous system, systemic drugs, anterior segment disease of the adnexa, anterior segment disease of the cornea, anterior segment disease of the conjunctiva, anterior segment disease of the uvea, posterior segment disease, the eye in systemic disease, glaucoma, and postoperative care. If the applicant passes the Treatment and Management of Ocular Disease examination administered by the National Board of Examiners in Optometry or other examination as approved by the board pertaining to the use of pharmaceutical agents and the treatment and management of ocular disease, the applicant shall be deemed to have met the requirement for additional studies in didactic education.

Legislative History

Amended by Acts 1969, No. 116, §1; Acts 1974, No. 444, §1; Acts 1975, No. 123, §1; Acts 1993, No. 202, §1; Acts 2003, No. 987, §1; Acts 2009, No. 289, §1.