Senior Project To Have The Michigan State Board Of Licensing Accept National Board Of Examiners In Optometry Examination Part III An Ongoing Endeavor

Optometry as a profession is different in Michigan and across the country. Different
states have very different laws and different qualifications to practice in each respective
state. Many people feel there should be much more uniform laws and standards in
optometry. Presently the American Board of Optometric Practitioners, ABOP, is
envisioned as a way to promote ongoing clinical competency through a distinct level of
continuing education and assessment. While ABOP looks at a national certification,
optometry should head toward equalizing the entry qualifications among different states.5
An attempt has been made to bring Michigan closer to the majority of other states as far
as required tests for licensure. The glaring difference is exam part III ofNBEO. This
creates difficulty in multiple state licensure, and redundancy of examinations for
licensure by newly licensed optometrists. A presentation was devised through careful
research, surveying of newly licensed optometrists, and logical opinion. This
presentation was three fold and was designed to benefit future optometrists interested in Michigan licensure, multiple state licensure, or undecided optometrists considering
Michigan. The presentation was intended not to make things easier for graduating
optometry students, however to make for logical conveniences and bring Michigan up to
national levels as compared to other states. This was in no way designed to take
authority away from the Michigan licensing board or place the public more in jeopardy
from unqualified optometrists. On the contrary, It was felt that national standards would
actually raise the Michigan licensed optometrist standard of excellence to a nationally
recognized level.