OPTOMETRIST
Summary
Hawai‘i ranks close to the national median
in optometrist license requirements. Hawai‘i’s
license fees are at the low end, and while thirty-eight states require
additional state examinations, Hawai‘i
does not. The one hundred hours of additional education required for a
therapeutic pharmaceutical agents (TPA) certification places Hawai‘i in the minority of states.
Requirement
|
Hawai‘i
|
Category Rank
|
National Median
|
OVERALL
RANK (quintile)
|
3
|
|
|
Education
|
Graduation
from optometry school
|
Not ranked
|
Graduation
from optometry school
|
Examination
|
Four
parts of the National Boards
|
4
|
Four
parts of the National Boards plus one or more state examinations
|
Fees
|
$245
|
5
|
$415
|
Continuing
Education
|
16 hours
per year
|
3
|
16 hours
per year
|
Reciprocity
or Endorsement
|
Yes, with
four years of experience
|
3
|
Yes
|
Therapeutic
pharmaceutical agents (TPA) certification
|
100 hour
course at Kapi’olani Community College
|
2
|
Most
states with TPA certification do not require additional education hours.
|
Notes on Optometrist
ranking:
1 = most difficult, most requirements, highest fees.
5 = least difficult, fewest requirements, lowest fees.
Education: As all states require
graduation from an accredited school or college of optometry, no rank was
assigned for this category.
Examination: Rank is based on the number of examinations
required. Most states require passing all four of the National Board
examinations administered by the National Board of Examiners in Optometry
(NBEO). Thirty-eight states also require passing a state examination, including
open book or take home, clinical practical and oral interviews.
Source: National Board of
Examiners in Optometry (NBEO
State Board Requirements).
Fees: Rank is based on the cost of an initial license and an
annualized renewal fee. This reflects the cost of obtaining and renewing a license.
Continuing education: This is expressed as hours per year.
Reciprocity: Most
states have some form of reciprocity or endorsement.
Therapeutic pharmaceutical agents (TPA): Forty states have an equivalent to Hawai‘i’s TPA
certification. In ten of those states, TPA certification is built into the license rather than
a separate certification. Hawai‘i
requires one hundred additional hours of courses at Kapi’olani Community
College, but will recognize education taken in other states if the state’s
requirement is one hundred hours or more.