What are your states reqs for being in optics?

[culland]

North Dakota has absolutely no requirements to being an optician. No requirements at all and no state society. We are viewed and paid lower than people bagging groceries!

I am ABO certified but just took the exam to better myself as an optician and am a practice manager here in the state.

[Spexvet]

New Jersey requires:

- Associates Degree Applied Science in Ophthalmic Science
- written and practical test (fabrication, neutralization, dispensing)
- 12 continuing ed credits each two years licensing period (3 of which must be in contact lenses)

[Neena]

In canada ontario. there are only 2 colleges that offer the opticianry program the first one is seneca college and the other college is georgian college. Seneca college offers the course as a 4 year program which is part time. and georgian college has a 2 year program which is full time. after you have completed your 4 year or 2 year program you have to write a comprehensive review examination. once you have passed this exam you are able to graduate and go and write the board examination. usually you only get 3 chances to write the exam. Once you pass the exam you are registered with the college as an R.O. registered optician.

[banner]

what about california? anybody? thanks:cheers:

[Miti]

State Licensing Boards

http://www.oaa.org/navbar/4oaamembers/8license/

[rep]

if you want accuracy.................

Presently you can only vote for one choice.


I take it that you realize that only 22 or 23 states have any requirements at all.


Rep

[carlee105]

Jo,I'm also in Louisiana, Monroe. I've taken the test a long time ago, I shouldn't have even been there. I had no book to study and had only worked in a wholesale lab for about 5 years. Now, about 20 years later, here I am, still in Louisiana and still not certified. I just received info on testing that's in May 2005. Now, I work for an OD instead of wholesale and I like it a little better. I do not work directly with the patients but am asked ALOT of questions by our dispensing opticians who don't have a clue!! There needs to be some kind of outline guide for people just starting out. It would help them understand optics and would educate the patient alot better.

I'd really like to know what the members of this board thinks about this..........
Wholesale or retail? Which is more money??

Thanks, Carolyn

[jediron1]

wmcdonald said:

Where in your wildest imagination would you get that educators do not want high standards? We do not set the requirements, it is the legislative bodies and state boards that have the responsibility of making sure people served by Opticians in their respective jurisdictions are prepared to serve the public. I know of NO educator in Opticianry who thinks we are sufficiently educated and trained! It is the lack of licensure requirements, or the relatively simple requirements in many states that, as an educator, we strongly encourage changing. As my young friend Ian has pointed out, Optometrists are well prepared, but unfortunately most Opticians are woefully deficient when it comes to formal education, which is a big deal to legislators when looking at licensure/practice issues for Opticians. Wait before you jump om me....I am an Optician, but if we are to get anywhere, we must improve our required educational standards across the board. I know some one will come on now and say that they have done what they do for a hundred years and they are the best in the world at measuring PDs and taking seg heights, but that is NOT all Opticians do in many areas. The need for licensure is based on potential harm to the public. It would be difficult to harm anyone (directly) with a pair of specatcles unless you stuck the temple in their eye! We need to expand scope of practice through education and THEN we will see our lot improve. Then the ODs and MDs who hire the cute little lady from McDonalds (what a fine name for a restaurant) who "poof" becomes the Optician in the doctors office will go away. We must improve or we will no longer be viable as a profession.

WM I never said educators were at fault, I said the large chains wnether they are the evil empire or others had a hand in watering down the N.Y. exam. At one time as I should know because I took it, it was the tuffest exam in the country. Now it's a WATERED DOWN MICKEY MOUSE EXAM WITH NO TEETH AT ALL. That is because legislators were all duped into believing that watering
down would be best because it would put opticians on the streets, not more competent just more opticians. That is why today a lot of opticians could not tell the difference from a slab off or how to read it to if if you showed them a ribbon seg they would say what is that. When you have a MICKEY MOUSE EXAM YOU GET MICKEY MOUSE PEOPLE! The only thing most chains are worried about in N.Y. is how much can they sell, not whether it's good or right for the customer but HOW MUCH CAN YOU SELL. Selling is the new game the chains are playing and the they are playing hard ball. Just my 2 cents!:hammer:

[chip anderson]

What makes you think the O.D.'s are well prepared except for legislative power?
I have a friend who graduated from Southern College of Optometry who related that if he had not fit his roomate with contact lenses, he would have never seen a contact on an eye. He saw a lot slides, listened to a lot of theory but no practrical exposure to any real life conditions. No exams of any long term conditions.

This was only five or six years ago.

Chip

[carlee105]

Yikes!!!! I didn't mean to stir anything up. But, I'm really glad I posted and got all the thoughts and knowledge of how it really works. I guess I don't keep up with the origin of something like this. Everything is stitched into a political pattern isn't it? Duh!!!! That's why I like this site, your opinion and responses are appreciated and has opened my eyes more. I may have a chance to go back to a wholesale lab which is where I started. I'm kinda torn between the two. Ya know, at my age, (I"ll just say over 40) I've gotta think about the rest of the "long run." This site is really the only thing I have to help me make a decision over this, so I might not be talking but I'm listening.

Thanks and to Everyone: Have a Great Weekend!!

[jediron1]

Chip they are watering down the OD exams just like they did with the optical exams in N.Y. when they instituted the MICKEY MOUSE ABO for the hardest exam in the states at that time. Now take a 100 question exam and A MICKEY MOUSE practicle and if you pass ( and you have to be pretty dumb not to pass) you get to call yourself a N.Y. licensed optician. Pretty pathetic!

[hcjilson]

Preface these coments with me not having seen a recent ABO exam but having seen a couple of recent practical exams, I would say they are fair measures of entry level skills needed to practice Opticianry without supervision. That's all they are supposed to be. I have heard that ABO is "watered down" but have no direct knowledge of that and highly suspect that is NOT the case.

The object of a certification exam is to be a measure of skills, NOT to be difficult. There are more advanced certifications available for that purpose, and it is "assumed" that opticians will pursue honing their skills through CE's, and seeking higher levels of certification.

As previously stated, I am in favor of adopting formal education ALONG with an intership in order to qualify for licensure.This profession, collectively, has dug in its heels at that proposal...probably because so many of us came up through the apprenticeship system, however I am convinced that it is the only way our survival is assured. What I would like to see happen, is a national set of standards, that could be adopted by the states, which would allow this to take place in a gradual implementation.The standards come first, and we can't even get states to agree on how much CE is required for license renewal.

This problem will not have a 'magic pill' solution, it will require a concerted effort by the collective licensing agencies, and will take a lot of work and time.

[ziggy]

I just took the exam (again) in Nov. when I first took the test in '92 it had much more math and A&P. None to speak of this last test, but there was HIPPA questions. I think your right, It is what you need now-a-days. It just seems to focus on more of the admin. aspect of the job.

[jediron1]

hcjilson said:The object of a certification exam is to be a measure of skills, NOT to be difficult. There are more advanced certifications available for that purpose, and it is "assumed" that opticians will pursue honing their skills through CE's, and seeking higher levels of certification.

We have had this discussion before and the same old lame excuses keep popping up to support the MICKEY MOUSE ABO. If your tenet is on solid ground then why do doctors take so difficult of exams? If it's a measure of skills and not to be difficult at getting to those skills then lets let Pharmacists and Nurses take MICKEY MOUSE exams because as HC said:"The object of a certification exam is to be a measure of skills, NOT to be difficult".:hammer:

[fjpod]

Hello,

The requirement is...(in NY)

1. Pass the ABO
2. Pass a practical

I think this is a little bit of an oversimplification, IMHO. Before getting a license, one must either complete a two year associates degree in applied optics, then the ABO/practical, or work as an apprentice under an LDO, OD, or OMD for 2 or 3 years, while completing a clearly defined self study course and series of 3 written tests, then the ABO/practical.

I have helped 4 people get their dispensing license by self study. The process is not "easy". The written tests contain a lot of equations involving slab-off, back vertex, thickness, fitting, anatomy and the like. Usually the apprentices find the practical "fair" as they have had two or three years experience in a licensed office.

[hcjilson]

We have had this discussion before and the same old lame excuses keep popping up to support the MICKEY MOUSE ABO. If your tenet is on solid ground then why do doctors take so difficult of exams? If it's a measure of skills and not to be difficult at getting to those skills then lets let Pharmacists and Nurses take MICKEY MOUSE exams because as HC said:"The object of a certification exam is to be a measure of skills, NOT to be difficult".

Your meaning is not clear to me. If you are calling the ABO mickey mouse, to what other national standard exam for opticians are you comparing it with? Who says an exam for a physician is difficult. All an examination is doing, is measuring knowledge. It might be difficult for us to take, but we lack the knowledge. Don't call it difficult because we would have difficulty with it.Well trained physicians pass their board exams.

The ABO is a measure of "entry level skills" and to my knowledge is the ONLY nationally recognized exam of its type.If you think it is not the case you should contact them, and the licensing authority in your state, and state your dissatisfaction with it, listing reasons why and suggesting how to improve it. To lay back in silence and call it Mickey Mouse will not get the job done.

[stephanie]

Yes, Jenny is right. But TN, unlike FL has no spot checks. Maybe some places do but I have never heard of our board going anywhere for any reason. I am not even sure half of them are still alive. Sorry, I think we have a very weak state board. I wish our state was much stronge.

[William Stacy O.D.]

what about california? anybody? thanks:cheers:

ok it's been a long time since I looked at the regs, but AFAIK the only requirement in calif. is that you have worked for an M.D. (NOT an O.D.!) for a period of time, seems like a couple of years or so, but it also seems that all you need is an M.D. or two signatures. No other proof???

If there's more to it, someone correct me, please. I've always thought there should be some uniformity there. I've also thought that an O.D. would be a better mentor for a fledgling optician than an M.D. (who don't know s***t about optics). But a standard curriculum with a test at the end makes much more sense to me...

[Johns]

I sign up all my employees as apprentices, just in case they decide later on that they want to work in the main office and/or become an optician.

I hired a girl 2 year ago to come in and do insurances. She works in the main office, but does not deal directly w/ cusotmers, or jobs. Six weeks ago, she asked if I would pay for her to take the ABO. I said I would not because she has not studied, and we haven't had the oppotunity to even teach her lensometry because she fills out ins. papers all day. As a way to appease her, I said that she can take it as many times as she wants, but I'll only pay for it if she passes. Guess what ? She called me last night at home and told me to get ready to write a check because she got an 81% on the test!!! Granted, she is a pretty smart girl, but has had very little exposure to optics with the exception of looking at the files for insurance purposes, and had no study guide or outside help.

This is all it takes in some states (including mine) to get a license.

[William Stacy O.D.]

She called me last night at home and told me to get ready to write a check because she got an 81% on the test!!!

is she interested in moving to California?