Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 24, December 18, 2024
(a) The Board
shall grant continuing professional optometric education credit only for
courses or programs that have significant educational or practical content
which deal with matters related to the practice of optometry or with the
professional responsibilities or ethical obligations of licensees, such as the
following:
1. Clinical Optometry: general
optometry; contact lenses; ophthalmic lens design; low vision; functional
vision; principals of diagnosis; HIV control; infection control;
2. Ocular Disease and Management: treatment
and management of ocular disease: anterior segment; treatment and management of
ocular disease: posterior segment; glaucoma; refractive surgery management;
peri-operative management of ophthalmic surgery;
3. Related Systemic Disease: ocular/systemic
disease; pharmacology; and
4.
Optometric Practice Management: jurisprudence; practice management; managed
care courses or programs related to the practice of optometry, except that
estate planning, financial or investment/tax planning, personal health, the
selling of ophthalmic materials, or other similar subjects shall not be
acceptable for credit.
(b) All courses or programs offered by the
following sources and providers shall be deemed to be automatically approved
and a licensee may obtain all 50 continuing professional optometric education
credits from the following:
1. Post-graduate
courses or programs in the professional skills of optometric practice and
scientific courses or programs, which are accredited by the United States
Department of Education or the Council on Postsecondary
Accreditation;
2. Continuing
professional optometric education courses or programs that consist of
educational and scientific courses, which are approved by the Council on
Optometric Practitioner Education (COPE); or
3. A residency, which is a one year post-OD
training program at an accredited college of optometry or accredited by the
Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE) of the American Optometric
Association, or a fellowship, which is a one year post-residency training
program at an accredited college of optometry or accredited by the ACOE of the
American Optometric Association in a specialty area.
(c) Sponsors submitting applications for
pre-approval of continuing professional optometric education programs or
courses which award three credits or less shall submit to the Board, on a form
provided by the Board, no less than 45 days prior to the date the program or
course is to be offered. Such courses or programs shall be in compliance with
N.J.A.C. 13:38-7.8 and cover topics
outlined at (a) above.
(d) A
continuing professional optometric education program or course pre-approved by
the Board pursuant to (c) above shall only be acceptable for the biennial
period in which it was approved. In order to continue to offer a pre-approved
continuing professional optometric education program or course, the sponsor
shall re-apply and receive an approval by the Board. If a pre-approved
continuing professional optometric education program or course is given in
multiple locations during the then current biennial period, the course or
program shall be identical in course titles speaker and content as that
pre-approved by the Board. The sponsor shall notify the Board, in writing, of
any change in course or program venue.
(e) The Board shall grant a maximum of 20 of
the mandatory 50 continuing professional optometric education credits,
including a maximum of 10 of the mandatory 30 TPA credits required, from any or
all of the following:
1. Videotape,
audiotape, computer media, Internet, journal, or correspondence courses or
programs. The course or program shall include an examination at the end of the
course or program. Credit for correspondence and other individual study courses
or programs will be given only in the renewal period in which the course is
completed with a successful final examination. TPA credits may be obtained from
participating in any of these courses that are primarily devoted to the
diagnosis, treatment and management of ocular disease, ocular pathology or the
ocular manifestation of systemic disease;
2. Structured grand rounds, which is a
presentation, with a formal outline of course or program material, of clinical
cases involving actual patient encounters and the lecture and discussion of the
diagnosis and treatment of the particular patient condition. Non-structured
grand rounds that consist of observation of individual patient care shall not
be accepted for credit. TPA credits may be obtained from participating in
structured grand rounds that are primarily devoted to the diagnosis, treatment
and management of ocular disease, ocular pathology or the ocular manifestation
of systemic disease;
3. Hands-on
demonstrations of instrumentation when accompanied by didactic lectures. TPA
credits may be obtained from participating in hands-on demonstrations of
instrumentation that are primarily devoted to the diagnosis, treatment and
management of ocular disease, ocular pathology or the ocular manifestation of
systemic disease;
4. Interactive
workshops which include demonstrations and applications of hands-on techniques
and skills in optometric procedures and instrumentations accompanied by
didactic lectures. TPA credits may be obtained from participating in
interactive workshops that are primarily devoted to the diagnosis, treatment
and management of ocular disease, ocular pathology or the ocular manifestation
of systemic disease;
5. Preparation
and presentation of a continuing professional optometric education lecture. TPA
credits may be obtained from preparing and presenting continuing professional
optometric education lectures that are primarily devoted to the diagnosis,
treatment and management of ocular disease, ocular pathology or the ocular
manifestation of systemic disease;
6. Preparation of an educational or
scientific article authored and published in a professional refereed journal.
TPA credits may be obtained from preparing an educational or scientific article
authored and published in a professional refereed journal that is primarily
devoted to the diagnosis, treatment and management of ocular disease, ocular
pathology or the ocular manifestation of systemic disease;
7. The Board shall grant a maximum of 10
continuing professional optometric education credits per biennial renewal
period for optometric practice management or managed care courses or programs
relating to the practice of optometry. Continuing professional optometric
education credit shall not be granted in courses or programs taken in the
following subjects: estate planning, financial or investment/tax planning,
personal health, the selling of ophthalmic materials, or other similar
subjects; or
8. The Board shall
grant a maximum of six continuing professional optometric education credits per
biennial renewal period for CPR certification.
