(a) Education Required.
(1) Successful completion of at least 30 verified instruction
or classroom hours of Board approved review course work in glaucoma
diagnosis and treatment and pharmacology of approved oral and anti-glaucoma
drugs is required for licensure as an optometric glaucoma specialist.
The applicant must provide documentation of successful completion
of course work.
(2) To be acceptable, courses of verified instruction
or classroom hours must receive prior approval by the Board. Approved
courses may be given only by accredited colleges and schools of optometry
or via other educational programs approved by the Board. Successfully
completed classroom hours may be used to satisfy the Continuing Education
requirements for that year.
(b) Examination. Each applicant for licensure as an
optometric glaucoma specialist shall have passed, with a grade of
75 or above, a Board approved examination covering the 30 verified
instruction or classroom hours defined in this rule. The examination
must have received prior approval by the Board. The applicant must
provide documentation of passing the examination. Examinations given
by accredited schools of optometry or medicine covering the subjects
described in the Board's Resolution dated April 14, 2000, are hereby
approved.
(c) Sitting for Review Course and Examination Prior
to Graduation. An applicant may sit for a Board approved review course
and examination provided that the applicant submits to the course
provider a written statement from the dean of an accredited college
of optometry that the applicant is enrolled in good standing in the
college and is in the final semester before graduation, and such other
information as the Board may deem necessary for the enforcement of
the Texas Optometry Act. Subsequent to licensure by the Board as a
therapeutic optometrist, the applicant having sat for the course and
examination as a student must obtain a clinical skills evaluation,
and when making application to the Board for licensure as an Optometric
Glaucoma Specialist, include a copy of the statement from the dean
originally furnished to the course provider.
(d) Clinical Skills Evaluation. Each applicant for
licensure as an optometric glaucoma specialist shall submit a signed
and dated certification prepared by a licensed ophthalmologist or
optometric glaucoma specialist. The certification shall confirm the
demonstration by the applicant in an adequate and appropriate manner,
as directly observed by the ophthalmologist or optometric glaucoma
specialist, of the following skills:
(1) tonometry,
(2) gonioscopy,
(3) slit lamp examination,
(4) optic nerve examination/fundus, and
(5) interpretation of visual fields.
(e) Applicants Graduating from Curriculums Which Include
Instructional Clinical Course. An applicant meets the requirements
of §351.3581 of the Texas Optometry Act and subsections (a) -
(c) of this section, provided:
(1) The Board determines in a review of the curriculum
and by certification of the dean of a school or college of optometry
that:
(A) The course work required for certification in this
section, including an instructional clinic review component, is part
of the school or college of optometry's regular curriculum, and that
the examination required for graduation from the school or college
is the substantive equivalent of an examination approved by the Board
pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.
(B) The students of the school or college must receive
clinical training and satisfy the evaluation requirement set out in
subsection (d) of this section.
(2) This subsection shall apply to all applicants graduating
on or after May 1, 2008, from a school or college of optometry for
which the Board has issued a determination under paragraph (1) of
this subsection, in the calendar year during which the determination
was issued or any year thereafter.
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Source Note: The provisions of this §280.8 adopted to be effective August 3, 2000, 25 TexReg 7175; amended to be effective December 23, 2001, 26 TexReg 10298; amended to be effective June 3, 2008, 33 TexReg 4303; amended to be effective March 9, 2009, 34 TexReg 1591; amended to be effective August 28, 2011, 36 TexReg 5363; amended to be effective May 22, 2023, 48 TexReg 2574 |