(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.

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