Section 8.02. Continuing education.

 

(1)  A licensee shall complete 30 hours of approved continuing education in each biennial registration period. A minimum of 7 of the 30 hours shall be approved glaucoma education.

(2)  Except as provided in sub. (4) , approved continuing education hours required for optometrists who are allowed to use diagnostic and therapeutic pharmaceutical agents shall relate to the diagnosis and management of eye disease or the removal of superficial foreign bodies from an eye or from an appendage to the eye.

(3)  Except as provided in sub. (4) , approved continuing education hours required for optometrists who are not allowed to use diagnostic and therapeutic pharmaceutical agents shall relate to the diagnosis and management of eye disease.

(4)  No more than a combined total of 6 hours of continuing education per biennium may be claimed for course work that relates to one or more of the following subject matter:

(a) Contact lens.

(b) Functional vision.

(c) General optometry.

(d) Low vision.

(e) Jurisprudence.

(f) Practice management.

(5)  Except for purposes of obtaining continuing education in order to satisfy the requirements for late renewal under s. Opt 7.05 , continuing education hours may be applied only to the biennial registration period in which the continuing education hours are acquired.

(6)  To obtain credit for completion of continuing education hours, an optometrist shall, at the time of each renewal of registration, sign a statement certifying that the course work has been completed. If audited, an optometrist shall submit certificates of attendance issued by each course provider or other evidence of attendance satisfactory to the board.

(7)  An optometrist who fails to meet the continuing education requirements by the renewal date may not engage in the practice of optometry until his or her registration is renewed under s. Opt 7.05 .

(8)  Optometrists initially licensed within a biennium shall complete one hour of board approved continuing education per month or partial month of licensure reported on or before December 15 of the second year of the biennium. A minimum of one-quarter of the continuing education hours shall be in the diagnosis and management of glaucoma.

(9)  Except as provided in sub. (10) , no more than a combined total of 6 hours of continuing education per biennium may be claimed for course work obtained through alternative delivery methods such as home-study courses, self-study packages, computer courses, televideo conferencing, or other delivery methods approved by the board under s. Opt 8.03 (4) .

(10)  The board may permit a certificate holder to claim more than 6 hours of continuing education per biennium for course work obtained through alternative delivery methods such as home-study courses, self-study packages, computer courses, televideo conferencing, or other delivery methods approved by the board, if the credential holder submits evidence satisfactory to the board of hardship.

History: CR 06-116 : cr. Register May 2007 No. 617 , eff. 6-1-07; correction in (9) made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 7., Stats., Register December 2007 No. 624 .