Licensed to Refract, CE's and Organizations

[AngryFish]

I am looking for the following information; any help will be greatly appreciated.

• A copy of the Bills that were introduced to state legislature to license Opticians as Refractionists.
• Number of hours each licensed state requires for CE’s per annum or bi-annum.
• The names of certifying bodies for Opticianry i.e. ABO, OAA, NCLE, etc.

[wmcdonald]

There have been refraction bills in several states I am familiar with over the years. New York, Nevada, and Washington are examples, and you can find specific info (or at least general "stuff") about the respective bills on their web sites I think.

As to CE and certification, I am amazed constantly that folks are simply not aware of the role(s) of the professional organizations. That may be why membership is so low in some of them.....folks just don't know! You are not alone. I will attempt to make these responses short and to the point, but I would seek further info at the sites below.

The OAA (Opticians Association of America, www.oaa.org) is the organization designed to represent Opticians in the US in Congress and assist in other political arenas. They also provide guidance to the states through leadership conferences, etc.

NAO (National Academy of Opticianry, www.nao.org) is the educational arm. They provide things like the Career Progression Program and other educational opportunities for Optcians.

Both of the above organizations do a great job, and I encourage your support for them.

The certification bodies are the ABO (American Board of Opticianry) and the NCLE (National Contact Lens Examiners). Their site, I belive, is www.abo-ncle.org. You can find information regarding the states requirements for CE on most of these sites.

This is a good question, and good to review from time to time, and possibly more than we do already. I hope it is helpful.

[AngryFish]

Thank you for the information it is spot on with my need. Is there an example of any legislative activity recently undertaken by the OAA that you know of? Or for that matter is anyone aware of any political activity on any state level by any opticians organization? I have long felt that opticians are under or poorly represented legislatively.

[Judy Canty]

Check the OAA website at www.oaa.org and click on the legislation link. That should give you the information that you need.
Like many other professional organizations, OAA suffers from the apathy of most of it's potential membership. Dues equal money to support legislative activities.